Different Magics
by sam81609
Summary: [Sailor MoonxWitch Crossover]. The girls are going on a class trip to Japan. While there, they meet Serena, Amy, Rei, Mina, and Lita. When a new enemy meets an old enemy, the teams will have to join up to win. Check profile for notes
1. Chapter 1

Hiya! Welcome to Different Magic's! As you know, this is a Sailor Moon/W.i.t.c.h. Crossover! I was a huge Sailor Moon Fan when I was younger, and I'm an even bigger W.i.t.c.h. Fan now! Okay, for the record, I've never seen the Japanese version of Sailor Moon, so I'm going to be using things from the English version, sorry if you don't like that! Anyway, now that I'm done, on with the intro, on with the show! Or fic…oh, just read the chapter!

**Disclaimer**- I don't own W.i.t.c.h. or Sailor Moon, however, I do own the idea associated with this fic

* * *

**Chapter 1**- Class Trip

"Japan!" Irma Lair screeched, "Japan!"

"Thank you Irma, I just went deaf in that ear", Cornelia Hale snapped sarcastically. Hay Lin and Taranee Cook giggled, and Will Vandom just shook her head in an amused way.

"Yes Ms. Lair, Japan", Principal Knickerbocker said from the stage, "Your whole class will have the opportunity for this trip, permission slips will be distributed last period. Dismissed"

"Japan", Irma repeated as the girls left the auditorium, "I say we try for it!"

"You would", Taranee said, smiling to show she was kidding, "This does sound like fun…"

"And if we do go", Will added, "It definitely couldn't have come at a better time, what with everything finally settling down in Meridian and all…"

"Yea", Hay Lin said, "Yea, you know, we should try for this!"

"We can talk to our parents tonight", Cornelia said, "Even _I'll_ admit, this does sound like fun"

"Like we don't deserve a little vacation after everything that's happened", Irma pointed out.

* * *

"Three hundred dollars!" evidently Mrs. Vandom didn't think this was so great, "I don't know Will, that's kind of a bit…"  
"Well it is on the other side of the world", Will shrugged, "It would cost a bit to get there"

"Will…"  
"Please Mom?" Will said, "Please, please, please? I never asked for anything big, please?"  
"What about that time-"

"Okay, I've asked for a few big things", Will interrupted, "But never anything this big and I'll never ask for anything big again! Please?"  
"Well…" Will could see her mom cracking, "Okay. You can go"

"YES!" Will cheered happily, "Wait, why am I cheering, I have to go pack! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom!"  
She jumped up and kissed her mom lightly on the head before darting to her room.

* * *

"What'd your mom say?" she asked Irma as she danced around her room.

"I'm going!' Irma said excitedly, "My parents said I'd could go! And I already talked to Hay Lin, Cornelia, and Taranee, they all got the okay! How about you?"  
"We're going to Japan!" Will cheered, "My mom almost said no, but I got her to crack!"  
"Yes!" Irma cried, "I'm gonna go pack, talk to you later Will"  
"Bye!" Will hung up and continued packing. This was just too amazingly perfect. She and her friends were going to Japan; they no longer had to worry about their responsibilities as guardians, what in the world could possibly go wrong?

* * *

"Come on Serena, what could go wrong?" Amy asked a furious looking Serena.

"I can't believe you volunteered for that!" Serena snapped, "Like we don't have enough going on, now we have to look after a bunch of kids! They'll get in the way!"

"Does that mean you think I get in the way to Serena?" Rini asked quietly.

"Of course not", Serena said quickly, "I know you can take care of yourself, I'm not worried about you. But these kids…what are we suppose to do if we run into trouble? Say, "Oh, sorry guys, we have to go save the world, can you take care of yourselves for a little while?"

"Things have been pretty quiet lately", Mina pointed out, "We should be okay"

"I think it would be a great experience", Artemis piped up.

"Says he talking cat", Serena muttered, "Which brings up another point, Luna and Artemis never shut up, do you really want to try and explain two talking cats to them?"  
"Hey!" Artemis and Luna snapped at the same time. Serena sighed.

"I'm with Serena, for once", Lita said, "This has bad idea written all over Amy"

"Come on", Amy insisted, "Five kids, one for each of us to hang out with. How hard could it be?"  
Serena sighed, "I really don't believe this is happening", she muttered, "Do I look like I want to baby sit?"  
"She isn't responsible enough", Lita muttered. Rei and Rini giggled but quickly stifled their laughter at the look on Serena's face.

"Laugh it up", Serena snapped, "I just hope he Sailor Scouts aren't needed while they're here"

That wiped the smile of everyone's face. They'd no where near forgotten about their jobs as Sailor Scouts (how could they?), but it had momentarily slipped their minds.

"Things have been pretty quiet since our last battle", Amy pointed out, "I think we'll be okay"

"For the sake of the world I hope so", Serena muttered.

It had all started one day when Serena had been walking to school. She'd been late (nothing new), and was in a bit if a hurry, when she ran into these kids tormenting a small black cat. She'd shooed the kids off, but had no time to stop and help the cat. Later, she found the cat again. Or rather, the cat had found her. And then…and then the cat started talking! It'd been a little more than surprising to hear the cat talk. By now, of course, she was used to it. The cat (whose name was Luna), told Serena of her destiny as Sailor Moon, leader of the world's hope for life and survival. Talk about a head turner. One by one, she discovered the four other Sailor Scouts who turned out to be kids just like her. Amy was Sailor Mercury, who had power over water. Lita was Sailor Jupiter, who had like an electric sort of power. Rei was Sailor Mars, with the power over fire. And Mina was Sailor Venus. She had sort of power over energy. She had once been "the lone Sailor Scout", but had eventually joined up with the Sailor Scouts. Rini was a whole different story. While the older Sailor Scouts were in their teens, and from present day, Rini was only ten, and from the future! She'd come to the past in search of the Empirium Silver Crystal. Turned out she had it all along of course. She had become Sailor Mini Moon, and Serena and the other Sailor Scouts had taken it up themselves to take care of her. They made a pretty good team. They'd saved the world a couple of times, and had become good friends in the process. Not that they didn't get on each others moods. They still worked well together. Except for when one of them did something the others didn't like. Like volunteering them for _babysitting_ a bunch of kids from America.

"It'll be fun", Mina said.

"I liked you better when you were quiet", Serena muttered.

"We can get Darien to help", Rini piped up.

"Please, the last thing Darien wants to do is help us out with a bunch of kids", Rei said.

"He likes me okay", Rini pointed out.

"I could have sworn we had this conversation already", Serena said sarcastically.

"Lets just see what happens", Amy suggested, "All though I'm sure everything will be fine"

* * *

_Two Weeks Later_

"Oh, this is going to be fun!" Hay Lin squeaked. They were finally getting ready to leave for Japan. The last two weeks had _dragged_ by.

"A three week trip to Japan", Irma sighed, "This is gonna rock!"  
Even Cornelia seemed excited. This was going to be great. None of them could wait.

"Okay students, on the bus", Knickerbocker yelled suddenly. The girls quickly scrambled to find seats together, and ended up sitting in the back. At least they were sitting together. They chatted the whole way to the airport. Three weeks in Japan. It was going to take them about three days to get there, but they could live with that. Taranee didn't like the fact they were going to be taking a plane the whole way, but like Irma said, a lot of people had wanted to go; they wouldn't have all fit on a train. Okay, maybe they would have, but going on a plane would take less time. They hoped.

"I can't believe my mom volunteered to go as a chaperone", Irma groaned. Her mom was up front talking to a few other chaperones, "I was hoping to get away from parents", she added as she saw her mom showing another parent pictures, "I can bet you anything those are pictures of me as a kid"

"Ha, can I go up and see them?" Cornelia smirked.

"Over my dead body", Irma shot back. Everyone was too busy trying not to laugh to say anything.

"Finally!" Hay Lin said, looking out the window, "I thought we'd never get here!"  
"Try to stay together in the airport", a teacher called over to the kids, "We don't want to loose anyone by mistake"  
"Yea that would be slightly bad", Irma muttered, "I can see it now: Hello, Mrs. Cook? I don't know _how_ it happened, but we somehow _lost_ your daughter, she might have gotten on the plane to Europe by accident…"

The girls cracked up (Taranee looked suddenly nervous), and made their way into the airport.

"Just follow the teachers", Will pointed to one of the teacher chaperones, "There's no way we can get lost if we just follow the chaperones"

They managed to get to the plane without any major disaster, and quickly found their seats. They'd made sure to all get seats together. Will, Taranee, and Irma were in one row; Cornelia and Hay Lin were sitting in the row across from them, with, to Irma's great disgust, Martin.

"Hey there sweet cheeks", Martin said as she sat down.

"Martin if you call me sweet cheeks one more time I'll remove your head!" Irma snapped. Martin didn't seem at all daunted by this, all though Will noticed he didn't say another word until long after they had taken off. Luckily, Hay Lin and Cornelia were on the edge (Martin had gotten the window seat) so they could talk without having to go around him.

"Lets play Hangman!" Hay Lin said excitedly, grabbing a piece of paper out of her stow away bag and pulling down the little tray out of the seat in front of her.

"Bored already?" Irma asked. Taranee had pulled out a book and was reading. Will was reading a brochure she'd found on Japan in the little pocket on the seats. Hay Lin shrugged off Irma's questioned. Cornelia quickly agreed to play, so Irma sighed and gave in. They played for maybe an hour before they finally got bored. Irma pulled out her Discman and listened to her new Boyzilla CD. Will was playing a game on her cell phone. Hay Lin had picked up the brochure Will had been reading, Taranee was still reading her book. Cornelia had fallen asleep. _This is going to be a very boring plane ride_, Will thought as she looked at her friends.

The three days actually went by quicker than they thought it would. They played a lot of Hangman, Irma shared her CD with them, and they talked a lot about who they were going to be staying with while they were in Japan.

"Hope they're nice", Will was saying one day, "Can you imagine staying with someone you don't like?"  
"That would be horrible", Taranee said.

"Passengers please buckle up as we begin to descend", the pilots voice came over the speaker suddenly.

"Where there?" Cornelia asked as they buckled up.

"No, he's saying that for fun", Irma quipped.

"Make sure you don't leave anything behind!" one of the chaperones yelled to them. They quickly started looking around to make sure they hadn't dropped anything. Taranee packed up her book, Will stowed her cell phone away in her pocket, and Irma packed up her Discman. They were all hyped with the fact they were _finally_ arriving.

* * *

"This will be fun", Amy reminded the girls as they awaited the arrival of the American students.

"I hope so", Serena muttered. This was the absolute _last_ thing she wanted to do. They'd all gotten there "American Buddy" assignments yesterday. Serena had ended up with some girl named Will Vandom. Amy had gotten a girl named Irma Lair. Rei had gotten Taranee Cook (who ever _that_ was). Lita had gotten some Cornelia Hale girl (what a name). And Mina had gotten someone named Hay Lin. She sounded Chinese or Japanese. That had to be pretty cool.

"I wonder what they're like", Rei said, "Hope they're nice"

"They sure don't sound like the delinquent type", Lita said with a shrug, "I bet they'll be fine"

"Like I said before, I hope these next three weeks are _very_ quiet", Serena repeated for about the millionth time.

"I don't remember you ever being this high strung", Amy said kiddingly, "Stop worrying, things will be fine"  
"Check it out!" Mina said suddenly, "They're here!"  
The girls looked around, and sure enough, a bunch of _very_ American looking kids were getting off a tour bus. Amy smiled happily. She, for one, was glad she'd volunteered them for this job. Even Lita, Mina, and Rei had warmed up to the idea. Serena was thrilled, but she was dealing with it.

"Okay, okay, settle down!" one of the chaperones yelled, "Okay, we have you paired up-"

"Wait!" one of the girls in the crowd yelled. She had bounce, brunette hair, "You paired us up already? We don't get a say in who we have to live with for the next here weeks? That certainly isn't fair!"  
"Thank you Ms. Lair", the chaperone said over a buzz of agreement at the girls words, "Now, as I was saying-"

"Lair?" Amy repeated to her friends, "Irma Lair, you think?"  
"Probably", Serena shrugged, "Can't be a popular name, can it?"

"Probably not", Amy shrugged, "Well, she seems nice enough"

"Serena Tsukino!" their teacher said suddenly. Serena jumped and looked around, "Yes?"  
"Would you like to meet your new friend or not?" he asked sternly. She nodded and looked back at the crowd of kids.

"Will Vandom", the chaperone said. A red-headed girl looked around at Serena, and uncertainly made her way towards her.

"Hi", she said shyly. There was an odd glow in her deep brown eyes.

"Hi", Serena said, quickly switching back to her goofy self, "I'm Serena"

"I'm Will", Will said with a smile, "Nice to meet you"

"Taranee Cook", the chaperone said, "You're with…Rei Hino"

Rei quickly raised her hand, and an African-American girl stepped out of the crowd, towards Rei.

"Hi", Rei said, "I'm Rei, not that you don't already know that"

"Taranee", the girl said, holding out her hand.

"These are my friends", Rei said quickly, gesturing at them, "That's Min, Lita, Amy, and Serena. You'll get used to her"

"Very funny", Serena said as everyone, even Will and Taranee, broke into fit of giggles.

"Cornelia Hale"

"Right here", another girl, a blonde, said.

"Lita Makato", Lita quickly raised her own hand, and Cornelia fought her way out of the crowd towards the girls.

"Hi!" she said in an energetic voice, "I'm Cornelia"  
"Lita", Lita said with a nod. She noticed Cornelia flash Will and Taranee a quick grin. Evidently they knew each other.

They watched as more kids partnered up. "Hey", Amy said suddenly, "You guys wouldn't happen to know Irma Lair, would you?"

"Did you get partnered with her?" Cornelia asked. Amy nodded. "Poor you", Cornelia smirked.

"We know Irma", Will said quickly, "She isn't that bad"

"What about Hay Lin?" Mina asked, "Know her?"

"She's one of our friends, yea", Taranee said, "You'll like her"

"She sounds Japanese", Serena pointed out.

"Chinese, actually", Cornelia said, "Her parents have this Chinese restaurant in our town called The Silver Dragon"

"Cool", Mina said as the chaperone yelled, "Hay Lin!"

"Right here!" another girl piped up. She sure had the looking of a Chinese origin.

"Mina Aino", Mina raised her hand and Hay Lin bounced over to her.

"Hi!" she chirped energetically.

"Don't worry", Cornelia said, "She's always like that"

Mina grinned; this was going to be fun.

"Irma Lair!"  
"Right here!"  
"Amy Mizuno"

The brunette they'd heard talking earlier shoved her way through the crowd, and walked over to Amy. Amy smiled shyly and said, "Hi, I'm Amy"

"Irma", the girl said, holding out her hand. Amy smiled and shook it. The way Cornelia had been talking, she'd gotten a little afraid. Irma seemed okay though. "Hey", she said, noticing Will, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin, "Looks like we get to stick together after all!"  
"Yea!" Hay Lin said, "This is gonna be great!"

"You know something?" Serena said, "I really think it is"

* * *

Ha! I just typed five and a half pages of complete and total babble, go me! Wish I could do that in English. Oh well…anyway, review, and maybe I'll update. Hope you liked it! 


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back! Sorry it took me so long to update, I've been really busy, so I had to put fics on hold. I'm back now though! And thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys rule!

**DISCLAIMER- **I don't own Witch or Sailor Moon. Poo

* * *

**Chapter 2**- A day in Japan

"Serena? Serena get up!"

"It's Saturday", Serena grumbled, "Get lost Luna"  
"Oh get up already", Luna snapped, "You were suppose to meet the others in the park an hour ago!"  
"WHAT!" Serena screeched, bolting up. There was yelp next to her, and she saw Will bolt up to, tousle haired and alarmed. Luna jumped off the bed and sauntered away, and Serena could have sworn she saw the cat smirk as it left the room.

"What's wrong?" Will asked drowsily as she clambered out bed, "What's happening?"  
"We were supposed to meet the others in the park an hour ago!" Serena cried, jumping out of bed. She ran to the bathroom, and nearly tripped over Luna.

"Where's Rini?" she asked the cat in a venomous whisper.

"She left an hour ago", Luna said as she walked, "She actually wanted to be on time"  
"She could have woken me up!" Serena said indigently, "She didn't have to just to leave!"

* * *

"Where's Serena?" Lita asked, "Should have known she would be late, I'm not surprised"

"Is she always late?" Cornelia asked, playing with a flower on the ground.

"Yes", Rei, Lita, and Mina all said at the same. The girls giggled.

"Sorry we're late!" a voice piped up cheerily behind them. They turned around and saw Will and Serena heading towards them. Luna was following behind them.

"Thanks for waking me up Rini", Serena scolded the girl as soon as she got to her. Rini shrugged and quickly ducked behind Amy, giggling.

"It isn't funny!" Serena snapped as the rest of the girls, even Will, started laughing, "You guys are horrible"

"Thank you, thank you", Irma said, mock bowing. Even Serena had to laugh now.

"Come on", Amy said once they were over their laughing fit, "Lets get going"

* * *

"This place is so cool!" Hay Lin exclaimed as they made their way through downtown, "This is amazing, hands down the best place I've ever been, hands down!"

"It _is_ amazing", Cornelia admitted, "So many things to see, so much to do…"

"You get used to it after awhile", Serena said with a shrug.

"You know what the coolest thing about this place is though?" Rini asked.

"What?"

"The Sailor Scouts!"

"Who?"

"The Sailor Scouts", Rini said, ignoring the warning looks her friends were giving her, "Are these really cool super heroes who always save the town! An no one knows who they really are! If you ask me", she added with a mysterious grin, "Sailor Mini Moon is the coolest, I mean, after all, she's obviously the youngest in the group, but she still fights evil along with the Sailor Scouts! Oh and there's Tuxedo Mask"

"Who's that?" Will asked.

"He works with the Sailor Scouts, he's a hero to", Rini said, "He's really handsome to…"

"Oh please", Serena muttered to Amy, who giggled.

"Let her have her fun"

"So anyways", Rini said, "I'm hungry, I say we stop somewhere to eat!"

"I'm kind of hungry myself", Serena said, "I never got breakfast"

"Okay then", Lita said, "How about over there, they have great food"

"Okay!" the girls all said at the same time.

* * *

"Hm…" Serena said, leaning back in her chair, "That has to be the best food I've ever gotten here"

"It was pretty good", Mina agreed as Lita got up to pay the check.

"Thanks for lunch Lita!" Rini called after her.

"Anytime", she said with a smile. It was a very peaceful atmosphere in the restaurant, it was quiet, calm, everything a person could ask for.

_CRASH!_  
Or not, Lita thought, whirling around. The whole restaurant had gone quiet, looking for the source of the noise. Their questions were answered almost instantly. A car _literally_ flew past the window, landed, and burst into flames.

_So much for no Sailor Scout work_, she thought. She threw some money at the cashier and ran back towards her friends, who all looked shocked. No one noticed as she grabbed Amy and pulled her aside.

"We need the Sailor Scouts", she said quietly.

"But we can't just leave the girls", Amy pointed out.

"Good point", she grabbed Rini and pulled her over to where they were standing, "Cover for us"

"What are you gonna do?" Rini asked.

"There's something out there, we're just gonna go find out what-" a scream broke her off. She jerked around and looked out the window, seeing the cause of the commotion.

Whatever it was, it was _not_ human. It was big, and black, and looked almost like walking shadow. It picked up a car and threw it aside.

"Whatever it is", Rini said, "It's gonna wreck the whole city!"

"Just keep cover", Lita said. She grabbed Amy and the two of them slipped out of the restaurant, unnoticed.

"Over there", Amy pointed to a back alley. Lita nodded and the two of them ran over, careful to not be seen.

"Ready?" Lita asked. Amy nodded, "Okay", she threw her hand in the air, "Jupiter Star Power!"  
"Mercury Star Power!"

* * *

Rini slipped back into her seat, nervous. She hoped Lita and Amy would be okay fighting by themselves.

Will was the first to notice who was absent, "Where's Amy?"  
"Oh uh…" Rini stumbled, unsure of what to say, "She said she was going to go find Lita, make sure she was okay"  
She caught Serena giving her a stern look, and as soon as Will had turned back to the scene outside, she whispered in Serena's ear, "They went to go fight whatever that thing is"

Serena's eyes flashed angrily, "Whatta you mean?"  
"They told me to keep cover for them", she said, "They didn't want to make the others suspicious or anything"

Serena sighed deeply, "Great"

* * *

Amy and Lita exchanged a look and nodded. They were in their Sailor Scout forms. They could only hope their absence would go unnoticed from the others. Before they could give it a second thought though, they ran out of the alley. Now or never.

"Hey!" she yelled, trying to get the monster's attention, "Looking for us?"  
The thing spun around and glared at the two Scouts. It grumbled under its breath and started moving towards them.

"NOW!"  
"Mercury Ice Storm!" Amy yelled. Wind started whipping around the monster, and its feet were frozen to the ground.

"Nice one", Lita said appreciatively, "My turn. Jupiter Thunder!"

Static formed around her hands, and a second later, zapped the monster full force.

"Yes!" the two yelled at the same time. Turned out it was a little early to celebrate. "What's going on?" Amy asked suddenly, looking at the monster. It had suddenly turned red, and was literally steaming. The ice around its feet melted away.

"What!" Lita yelled, "But, but…"

She didn't have any time to puzzle over what had just happened. Before she even saw it, the monster swiped at both of them with a humongous arm, and threw them both backwards.

"Oof!" they hit the ground with a dull thud, and were temporarily stunned by the impact. If the monster had wanted to finish them off, now would have been the time to do it. Luckily, they weren't alone.

"Mars Fire Ignite!" a ball of flames engulfed the monster. Amy and Lita looked around in relief, "Sailor Mars!"

Rei flashed them a quick grin and looked back at the monster. It roared in frustration and agony, and suddenly…it simply disappeared. The flames died away, but there were no ashes where it had been standing.

"What happened?" Rei asked in surprise. She ran over to help Amy and Lita. They stood up and dusted themselves off, looking at the spot where the monster had been.

"Did it just teleport or something?" Lita asked. Before either of her friends could answer, they noticed people starting to crowd around them.

"Time to go", Lita said. Amy and Rei nodded, and they ran down the street to find a place to change back

* * *

"Whoa", was all Irma could think to say. It had been so amazing, watching the Sailor Scouts fight. They had the coolest powers, no doubt. Maybe even better than their guardian powers! Okay, maybe they weren't that great. She looked over at Rini. The Sailor Scouts were every bit as cool as the young girl had said. Something about the look on Rini's face caught her attention. She looked…relieved. Relieved? Irma puzzled, why? It's like she knows them personally or something. Rini caught Irma looking at her and quickly flashed her a grin, "Aren't they every bit as cool as I said?"  
"Sure are", Irma said, nodding. She was so entranced by the fight she had just seen, she didn't even notice when three exhausted looking girls came up behind them.

* * *

"It was awesome!" Irma said later that night. They were all over Serena's. Serena and her friends were off somewhere else running an errand, so the guardians had stayed behind to chat.

"I'm not sure it was a typical day in Japan", Taranee said, "But it was pretty cool, yea! Those Sailor Scouts definitely have something going for them"  
"And we guardians don't?" Will asked mockingly. She gave Taranee a grin to show she was kidding, "All I know is, monster weren't mentioned in the brochure"

"Who cares!" Irma yelled excitedly, "Hey, so you think one of them would give me an autograph? You know, just so I can prove I met them?"  
"Irma!" her four friends yelled at the same time. Will grabbed a pillow and hit her over the head with it.

"Hey!" before Will could react, Irma had snatched up a pillow of her own and was slamming Will in the head with it.

"Pillow Fight!" Hay Lin yelled, grabbing a pillow of her own and joining the two girls. Taranee and Cornelia exchanged a "why not?" look, and picked up pillows of their own. It turned into a full, blow out pillow fight in no time flat.

* * *

That was way too close", Serena said with a sigh, "Now do you see why I thought this exchange thing was a bad idea?"  
"Yea…" Amy said uncomfortably. It was her fault they had gotten into this at all. She hadn't known what was going to happen when she signed them up for it.

"Hey", Serena said quickly, realizing she'd hurt Amy's feelings, "No big right? We got away with it today, didn't we? All we have to do is hope nothing else happens while the girls are here, right? I mean, one freak monster attack doesn't mean anything, I'm sure we'll be okay"

Amy smiled weakly. In her own, bone-headed way, Serena was good at making people feel better.

"We still have to deal with this monster", Lita pointed out, "We don't know what happened to it, after all"

"I wish we knew what it was", Rini said, "That would definitely be a hand for us"  
"Yea, it would", Rei agreed, "What would be even better would be to know whether or not it's still out there"

The other girls nodded. They agreed completely on that note.

* * *

So, what'd you think? I know this was mostly centered around the Sailor Scouts, I'm really sorry for that, you'll see a lot more of the Witch girls next chapter. Okay, now I gotta go find someone to have a pillow fight with, so review! 


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry I haven't updated in so long, thing's have been crazy, I've suffered through mid-terms, and we just switched classes at school about two weeks ago, so now I'm settling back into math and physics, and that's been hectic, and now to top it off I'm sick. Anyways, I finally have some free time, so I'm updating, and that's all that matters, right? Okay, have fun reading, just as I promised in the last chapter, this will revolve around the Witch girls.

**Disclaimer**- Don't own Witch, don't own Sailor Moon, you know that

* * *

**Chapter 3**- So much for Vacation

Will stirred and opened her eyes. It was raining outside. She sighed as she sat up. _Rain is the worst_, she thought, _What can you do in the rain?_

She tip-toed out of Serena's room and down the hall. It was about half way along that she heard it.

"What do you think Luna?" Will jumped a mile. Rini was in the kitchen talking to someone. She picked in through a crack in the door. The only other living thing in the room besides Rini was the cat. Was Rini talking to a cat?

"I don't know Rini, what you described could be anything", Will eyes grew wide. She backed away from the door and shot back for the room she was staying in. _I have to be dreaming_, she thought as she collapsed on the bed, _Ow!_ She thought as she pinched herself, _So much for that theory. But cats can't talk. Can they?_

* * *

Rini walked over to the door and opened it a little wider. She could have sworn she heard someone running out there. But the hall was empty.

"Weird", she said with a shrug, "Anyways, how are we supposed to fight this monster if we don't know what it is?"  
"That isn't your only problem", Luna pointed out, "What about those American girls, huh? You can't exactly abandoned them, now can you?"  
"Maybe Serena was right", Rini said thoughtfully, "And I never thought I'd say that. But maybe she was right about this being a bad idea"  
"It certainly looks that way to me", Luna said with a nod, "But, the girls are here now, so what can we do right?"

"Right",Rini nodded, "We're just going to have to do the best we can"

* * *

"I'm telling you, that cat was talking", Will said in a low voice. She and her friends were hanging out at Serena's with Serena and her friends, who were busy cooking. Rini was playing with Diana, Artemis, and Luna in the hallway, leaving the girls free to talk.

"A talking cat?" Irma repeated, "I think the jetlag got to you Will"

"I'm serious!" Will protested, "Something weird is going on here"

"That should be our motto", Irma said slyly.

"I hate to say it, but she's right", Cornelia said, "Something weird is _always_ going on in our lives"

"That doesn't explain the cat", Will pointed out

"Maybe you were hearing things", Taranee suggested, "Logically speaking, cats can't talk"  
"Our lives aren't logical though", Hay Lin said.

"True"  
"Lunch!" Serena danced in balancing two trays.

"Do you want some help?" Will asked at once, standing up.

"Of course not", Serena said, "You're guests, guests shouldn't be put to—ah!"

The trays went flying as Serena tumbled over a pillow that fell off the bed. The trays hit the floor with a crash

"Serena!" Lita raged, "What did you _do?_"

"Uh…oops", Serena stumbled up giggling nervously, "Sorry Lita, it was an accident"

"I'll get some paper towels", Amy said with a sigh heading back towards the kitchen. The other girls started picking up the dishes.

"Well, we could always go out to lunch", Serena said. Her face was red with embarrassment. Will stooped down and started helping to pick up, but Mina quickly stopped her.

"Serena may be a bonehead, but she's right", Mina said kindly, "You guys are guests, it's no big deal, we'll take care of it, really"

Amy came back in with the paper towels and the mess was picked up in no time. "It stopped raining", Rini said suddenly, looking out the window, "We can go out to lunch then, if you want"  
"Good idea", Rei said, standing up, "I'm in the mood to get out for a bit anyways, lets go!"  
_Ring-ring!_

"Huh?" Serena grabbed the phone and answered, "Hello? Uh huh…uh huh…sure, we'd love to! All right, sure, we were just thinking of heading out anyways, sounds good! Okay, see you in a little while then, bye!"  
"Who was that?" Rini asked as Serena hung up.

"Darien", Serena said, "We're meeting him downtown, so lets go!"

* * *

"I never get tired of this scene", Hay Lin said with a sigh, "It's so cool"

"You're of Chinese origin right?" Mina asked, "That must be cool, do you know any Chinese stories?"  
"My grandmother used to tell me all kinds of stories!" Hay Lin said excitedly.

"A lot of myths are of Chinese or Japanese origins", Amy pointed out, "I've heard quite a few in my time, they _are_ pretty cool"

"So where's your friend?" Irma asked suddenly, looking around.

"She's impatient", Cornelia said, "Don't worry, it's nothing against you"

"Over there!" Rini said, pointing, "Hey Darien!"

A boy of about nineteen or twenty looked around. He had short, tousled like black hair, and was tall. He smiled and waved at the girls. He looked like a kind person.

"He's cute", Irma said slightly breathless. Will looked to see the reaction of their Japanese friends, but Irma had said it quietly enough they didn't notice.  
"Hey Darien", Rini said as the boy approached, "How's it going?"

"Not bad", he said. He looked over at Will and her friends, "These your new friends?"  
"Oh yea!" Serena said, snapping out of whatever funk she was in, "Yea, they sure are. That's Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia…no wait, sorry, that's Hay Lin, the blonde is Cornelia. I think…did I get that right?"  
"Yes", the five girls nodded and smiled. Serena smiled, relieved.

_Crash!_

"What was that?.!" Serena cried, looking around, "Sounded like something breaking, didn't it?"  
"Yea", Amy said, "Do you think it was a car accident or something?"

"_Unh_", Will stumbled forward clutching her head. She suddenly felt light-headed and dizzy.

"Will!" Taranee grabbed her friend to keep her from collapsing and held her straight.

"What's wrong?" Serena asked panicking, "What's going on?"  
"It's nothing", Will said quickly, straightening up, slightly breathless, "It's happened before, just…I dunno, maybe too much walking or something…"  
"Lets get out of the sun", Rei said, "Something tells me that isn't helping you much, come on"

The girls walked to the nearest restaurant to take a break. Taranee grabbed Will the second she had a chance and pulled her aside.

"You're not that good at lying", she said quietly, "What really happened?"  
"I'm not sure", Will said honestly, "It could have been anything really—"

"Hey come on!" Irma called to the girls, "I'm hungry, lets get something to eat!"

Taranee and Will exchanged a glance and started to make their way over to where their friends were.

_Crash_!

"Ah!" Will whirled around to see what had happened. There was some kind of creature on the street. It wasn't all that big, maybeseven tall, but it looked vicious. It had blades all over it's body, that it was using to slash through anything that got in it's path.

"Will, look over there!" Taranee said, pointing. Will followed her gaze and saw what Taranee was looking at. A portal. _Great_, Will thought.

Irma, Cornelia, and everyone else had run out to get them. "What is it?" Rini asked, astonished.

"Well Rini, if we knew, we wouldn't be here wondering what it is, now would we?" Serena asked sarcastically. Crowds were pushing their way down the street, determined to get away from whatever this monster was.

"Hey!" Will yelled as she was pushed away from Serena and the others. She tracked down Irma and her other friends, but couldn't find Serena and all them.

"Come on", she said, "Now's are chance, there's a portal near by we can send this thing back to Meridian through"  
The girls nodded and they made their way to find a place to transform.  
"The glamorous life of a guardian", Irma said kiddingly as they went into an alley, "How sweet"

Will held up her hand, ignoring Irma as she almost always did when Irma started getting like that. The Heart of Candracar appeared floating above her palm.

"Ready guys?" Will asked. The girls nodded, and Will couldn't help but smirk.

"Okay then…Irma, water!" a blue water tear drop made it's way towards Irma

"Taranee, fire!" a red fire tear drop made flew out of the Heart towards Taranee.

"Cornelia, earth!" a green tear drop absorbed Cornelia.

"Hay Lin, air!" a silvery white tear drop flew towards Hay Lin.

A fifth tear drop, this one pink, absorbed Will in it's light. She felt the changes begin. Wings burst out of her back. Her normally baggy clothes were replaced by a skin tight skirt and shirt. The light died away, and she was soon looking at her friends again. Not that they looked like her friends anymore. They were dressed in their Guardian outfits.

"Lets go already!" Irma said, grinning, "I knew this vacation wouldn't be boring!"  
"I'd give my cell phone for a boring vacation", Will muttered bitterly, "Lets go!"

* * *

"Will!" Serena yelled, "Will!"

"Irma!" Amy yelled desperately

"Taranee!" Rei cried, "Taranee where are you?.!"

Cornelia!" Lita yelled, "Cornelia!"  
"Hay Lin!" Mina yelled, "It's no use", she said, stepping backwards, "I don't know where those girls got to, but they sure aren't here. We need Sailor Power, lets—"  
"Look!" Rini yelled. The girls whirled around to find out what Rini was yelling about, and saw it. Five girls had appeared out of no where and were fighting the monster. At least, they looked like girls. Sort of. Kind of. They had the facial features of girls and everything, and the way they were dressed, they seemed like girls, but it was only when they really started fighting that Serena and her friends realized they weren't ordinary girls.

"Hey uh…you!" one of them yelled at the monster, "Yea, you! Over here! _Water_!"  
A stream of water shot out of her hand at the monster, hitting it square in the face and knocking it backwards.

"Nice one!" one of the others said, "Try this one on for size though. _Air_!"  
The wind around them picked up, and hit the monster.

"We have to get it through the portal", one of the girls said. There was something familiar about her, or it felt that way to Serena anyways. She looked at the girls weirdly. There was something familiar about _all_ of them, now that she really thought about it…

"Here!" the girl with the water powers said, "I can take care of that. _Water!_"

A jet of water shot out of her hands and hit the monster, knocking it backwards into an alley. There was a crackling noise and a blue light shone brightly, dying away seconds later. The girls ran into the alley. There was another crackling noise, and then silence.

* * *

"That was close", Irma said as the girls made their way to find their friends. They had closed the portal, gone over a fence that led deeper into the alley, and then transformed back to their human selves and took off.

"At least no one got hurt", Will said tiredly.

"Hey!" Irma's head snapped around at the familiar voice of Serena, and she saw that the others were running towards them.

"Thank goodness you're okay", Amy said, "We were worried"  
"Did you guys see the fairy things?" Rini asked excitedly. _They must have seen us in our Guardian forms_, Irma realized, _I hope they didn't recognize us_  
"Fairy things?" Will asked, "No, what were they?"

"We don't know", Rei shrugged, "They fought that monster though, and got rid of him"  
"Wow", Will said, "Talk about a full day"  
"And it isn't even noon yet!" Serena said, "Which reminds me, we never got lunch. Lets go!"

--

And so here endeth another chapter. Next chapter…next chapter they will all see each other in their hero forms, and Serena realizes who the "fairy things" really are. Sound good? Whatever…review!


	4. Chapter 4

Back again! Okay, I know it's been a mondo long time since I updated, don't hate me, I just have a lot to do. Again, please don't hate me, or plan to rally against me and kill me. If you do, you'll never see another update. And that would be bad, I suppose

* * *

**Chapter 4-** Meeting Each Other 

"I don't get it", Will was saying to Taranee, "How could there be a portal--"

She cut off as Serena came to see what she was up to.

"I have the same problem", Taranee said with a laugh. Rei must not have been there at the moment.

"This is getting to be a problem", Will said as Serena left, "I was hoping we wouldn't have to do the guardian thing while we're here, this could turn into trouble if we're not careful"  
"Yea", Taranee agreed, "I have to go, see ya later"

"Bye", Will said as she hung up. She looked over at Rini, who was playing with Luna and Diana, but didn't really see them. This really _was _going to become a problem if they weren't careful. If they were needed while they were here, and couldn't get away from the others, then what?

"Whatcha thinking about?" Rini piped up suddenly.

"Nothing", Will said quickly, "Nothing at all"  
"Well, okay", the girl shrugged, "But you look like you have something on your mind. Wanna talk?"

"No, that's okay", Will smiled, "Thanks though. I'm going out for walk, be back in a little while"

"Okay, bye!" Rini chirped as she walked out the door.

* * *

"There's something weird about that girl", Luna said as Will left. 

"Yea right", Serena said, "Is she from the Nega-Verse to?"  
"Very funny Serena", Luna sniffed, "I'm serious, there's something weird about her. I think she may be connected to those fairy things you were describing to me"  
"Her?.!" Serena and Rini screeched at the same time.

"She's a nice girl and all", Serena said, "But hero material? No way"  
"Neither are you, but you're still Sailor Moon", Luna pointed out.

"Thanks a lot", Serena said sarcastically.

"Back on track", Luna said, "I think you should look into her more, see what you can find out"  
"Yea, I'll do that", Serena said, "When I get an A in Math"  
"Well then, it'll never happen", Rini said snickering.

"Watch it brat", Serena snapped.

"Ooo, I'm scared"  
"You'd better be"  
"Or what?"  
"Or I'll--"

"Children!" Luna cried, outraged, "Please, keep the bickering to yourselves!"  
Serena and Rini exchanged a look, "I say we buy her a muzzle"  
"Agreed"

"Hey!"

* * *

Will wandered down Serena's street, still thinking about the situation she and her fellow guardians were in. Things weren't going to be easy for them if this kept on. If another portal appeared…well, they couldn't just ignore it. It was their job to close portals and protect the world. There was no vacation from that. But still, they couldn't simply run off on Serena and everyone else if there was trouble. They could start to get suspicious. They got lucky once, by getting separated. It was very likely they wouldn't get that lucky again. _So what do we do?_ She thought. She was hoping she wouldn't have to make any leader decisions while they were in Japan. That hadn't worked out to great. They were pretty much out of options at this point. Not good. 

_We're down to the last count, _she thought, shifting her eyes to the sky, _How are we suppose to do our guardian duties if we're stuck without anyways to get away, huh? Hmn, I expect the sky to answer me, that's pretty depressing_

She sighed as she turned and made her way back to Serena's place. She wasn't getting anywhere this way. All she could do was hope for the best, and maybe things would work out. Not that things ever seemed to truly work out for them.

* * *

Serena yawned widely as they girls walked down the street, "Why do we even have school?" she questioned, "I'm sorry, it's just seems so useless to me!"  
"That's because you haven't done any actual work in school since fourth grade", Rei pointed out. 

"You to huh?" Irma asked with a laugh. The girls giggled as they made their way down the street. Luna, Artemis, and Diana were falling back behind them, stepping along carefully.

"Luna kind of reminds me of Napoleon", Cornelia said thoughtfully.  
"Who?" Serena asked.

"My cat Napoleon", Cornelia explained, "My sister Lillian named him. Don't ask why she named him that, but she did"

"Weird name for a cat", Amy said thoughtfully.

"What can you do right?"

"So what would you like to do now that we're out of school, at last?" Serena asked.

"We could do our homework--"  
"NO!"  
"It was just a thought", Amy said, hurt.

"So…huh?" Serena looked around and saw Rei had come to a halt, "What's wrong Rei?"  
"I thought I heard something…" Rei said distantly, "Over there!"

She took off without warning down a side street. "Wait up!" the other girls took off after her.

"Huh?" she came to an abrupt halt on another street. "What in the world is that?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Aportal", said a hushed voice from behind her. She whirled around. Serena and everyone else was were standing behind her. The Sailor Scouts looked confused. The other girls looked shocked. Before she had time to question why they weren't confused though, chaos broke loose.

"Look!" Rini screamed, pointing across the street, "It's that…that shadow thing!"  
"Rei whirled around. Sure enough, it was the shadow creature she, Lita, and Amy had fought before. _So that's where it went off to, _Rei thought.

"Should we get help?" Serena asked, backing away.

"Get help from who exactly?"

Before anyone could answer to the sarcasm, the monster attacked. The girls screamed and scattered.

"Now what oh leader?" Rei hissed to Serena.

"I have a plan"  
"Oh really, what?"  
"Let me come up with a new plan"  
Rei groaned, "We're doomed"  
"We need a way to get away from the other girls", Amy said, "Lita, Rei, and I could barely take this thing on our own last time, there's no way we'll be able to do it this time"  
They dodged another attack and looked around, only to see Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin had disappeared. "Perfect", Serena said, "We'll worry about finding them later. Lets go!"

The girls ran into a back alley. "Rini, you going to be okay on your own?" Serena asked the young girl. Rini nodded, and Serena looked back at her friends, who nodded, "Lets go. MoonCosmic Power!"

* * *

"We lost Serena and the others", Will said, "I feel bad for ditching them, but we'll make up for it later. Lets hit it. Irma, water! Taranee, fire! Cornelia, earth! Hay Lin, air!" 

The five drops spread out among the girls, and a pink light engulfed them. The light died away, and Will was looking at her friends in their guardian forms.

"Lets move", Will said with a nod. The girls dashed back out to the street where the portal was, and the monster. They were in for a big surprise though.

"The Sailor Scouts!"  
Sure enough…

"Supreme Thunder!" Sailor Jupiter yelled. A bolt of electricity formed in the area, and slammed into the monster.  
"No good", Sailor Mars said, "How about this? Mars Fire Ignite!"

A ball of flames slammed into the creature. It didn't even flinch.

* * *

"Uh…anymore plans?" Rei stuttered. 

"How about…run!" Serena yelled, whirling around. Rei grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Nice try"

"Look over there!" Amy cried suddenly. The girls swiveled around to see what she was looking at, and saw them: the fairy things, or whatever the heck they were. They looked vaguely familiar. Rei squinted to get a better look at them. They looked almost like…

"No way!"

Rei whirled around to glare Serena and give her the one two for breaking her concentration, "Do you mind?"

"No, those fairy things, they look like--"  
"Save it!" Amy yelled, "It's attacking!"  
The shadow monster, or whatever it was, had reared on them and was moving closer.

"Earth!"  
A cage of vines burst out of the ground and encased the monster.

"Nice one", one of the fairy things said appreciatively, "I always thought you could do better than that though Corny"  
"For the last time, don't call me Corny!"  
"Save it would you?" the red-head snapped at them. Her eyes shifted to where the Sailor Scouts were standing.

"Don't mind us", Serena said quickly, "That thing is all yours"

"Gee thanks", the girl with the water powers said sarcastically, "Well, fine lets get this going shall we? Water!"

A jet of water hit the creature and sent it spiraling backwards. "Lets give it a bath, shall we?" she smirked. More water poured down on the monster and drowned it.

"Nice touch", the blonde girl smirked.

"Focus!" the red-head snapped, "It's attacking again!"

But she was wrong. The thing was rearing and a second later it simply disappeared.

"What in the world…" the red-head muttered, "This is out of control, lets just close the portal and get going"  
"Wait!" Serena yelled, "Who are you guys?"  
"No time for that", the red-head (most likely the leader) said as the blue thing in front of her closed, "Lets go you guys"

The girls took off before anyone could stop them.

"Am I the only one who thinks", Serena said carefully, "That those girls looked like Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin?"

* * *

Horrible, right? I'm sure it was, review anyways 


	5. Chapter 5

Ack! Sorry for the incredibly long wait on the update, I've been so busy, you wouldn't believe it! Okay, no more excuses, on with the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 5- **Meeting Each Other 

Rae was laying in bed later that night, mulling over what Serena had said. Could she be right? She rolled over and looked at Taranee, who was fast asleep. She started thinking about those fairy things she'd seen. One of them had looked a little bit like Taranee…but no! Serena was crazy, just like Rei had said earlier. These were just ordinary girls from America, there was nothing special about them, nothing at all. But still, something was gnawing away at Rei, as though she had missed something. But what? What? What could she have missed? She'd gone over everything, she'd come to the conclusion that there was no possible way five ordinary American girls could have some sort of special powers. Maybe it was the fact these fairy things had appeared at the same time this whole exchange trip had started. Maybe it was the fact that they resembled the five girls Rei had grown to like. Whatever it was, she knew she was crazy. There was nothing special about these girls. Nothing.

* * *

Will was laying awake in bed, mulling over what had happened. This wasn't all a coincidence. Something was going to happen, she could tell. The question was, what? Did the appearance of this portal mark something? Had Phobos possibly returned? Was it just a freak accident? And what about that monster the Sailor Scouts had fought the other day? Was that involved in this somehow? What if it was? The Sailor Scouts had barely escaped, they certainly wouldn't be able to. Will squeezed her eyes shut as her head started spinning. This was too much to be thinking about, especially considering how tired she was. She rolled over and tried to sleep, but still, there was too much going in her mind for her to truly rest.

* * *

"The girl is smarter than she looks", Phobos informed Kinjo icily, "Do not underestimate her"  
"You expect me to?" Kinjo asked the former prince idly, "I will not make the mistakes you did"  
"I did not make mistakes!" Phobos roared furiously. 

"Watch your temper", Kinjo informed him, "Do not forget, it was I who released you, you're in my debt. And I know how you can repay me"  
"I repay nothing", Phobos snapped, "We will do what we agreed to do, and hear no more of it, are we clear?"  
"Perhaps", Kinjo said, "Lets see if you can do what I want you to first"

You underestimate me"

"Perhaps I do"  
The villains eyed each other angrily, and finally came to a silent truce. They would do what they agreed, and go their separate ways. That was the way the deal would work.

* * *

Will stirred in her bed, and rolled over. She felt like she'd gotten no sleep last night, it had been forever before she was finally able to fall asleep, and after that her dreams were punctured by shadowy faces and darkness. Not the best way to get sleep, she mused. It was quiet through the little house, all that could be heard was Serena's heavy snores and Rini's light breathing. Will sighed and finally rolled out of bed. She dragged herself down to the kitchen to get something to eat. On the way down she tripped over Luna. 

"Whoa!" she yelled as she went flying. Luna meowed in an annoyed sounding tone. "Sorry", Will said with a smile, reaching to give the cat a quick scratch, "I saw you with Rini yesterday morning. It sounded like you were talking. I must be crazy, huh?"

Luna looked at her in a thoughtful way, but finally just walked past her. Will shook her head as she stood up. She really was nuts.

* * *

_What Will must be thinking_, Luna thought as she walked down the hall, _if she saw Rini and I talking, she must suspect something, but what? That Serena is one of the Sailor Scouts? How could anyone suspect something like that?_

She stepped outside and took off down the street to Lita's. Maybe Artemis would know what to do. She hoped so, for once she couldn't come up with any ideas, and it was driving her crazy. She ran for a good ten minutes before finally getting to Lita's. She stopped at the door and meowed loudly enough, she hoped, to wake Lita and Artemis up. After maybe five minutes, the door opened, and a drowsy looking Mina walked out in her night clothes and slippers, with Artemis peering around her legs. "Luna?" Mina asked, rubbing her eyes, "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yes", Luna said with a curt nod, "We have a problem though, this is important. I think Will suspects something. She heard Rini talking to me yesterday, she thinks she was just imagining it, but if she figures out she wasn't-"  
"Slow down!" Mina said quickly, fully awake now, "How do you know all this anyway?"  
"Well…Will told me", she admitted, "She nearly tripped over me on her way to the bathroom, and she mentioned hearing me talk to Rini. I'm just worried she'll start to suspect something, she's a sharp girl Will is"

"Good point", Mina said, bowing her head in thought, "Hmn, what should we do? This could mean trouble, we'd better get the others together soon"

"Yea, but how?" Artemis said, "Will and the others will be with them, don't forget-"

"What's going on?"Hay Linstumbled out drowsily, her eyes half closed. Luna jumped a mile; she had completely forgotten about Cornelia.

"It's nothing", Mina said quickly, "Serena must have forgotten to feed Luna again because she came meowing at our door looking for food. I'll feed her and get her on her way, I'm sure Serena is worried, if she isn't still sleeping of course"

"'Kay",HayLinmuttered. She turned around stumbled back to bed.

"That was close", Luna said as soon as she was sureHay Linwas gone, "So, any ideas?"  
"No", Mina said, "How about you Artemis?"  
"Not one", Artemis said, "We need a way to get Will off our trail though, otherwise we could be heading for dangerous waters. Maybe Serena was right this time around. Well, first time for everything I suppose"

"No kidding", Mina said, "Well until we come up with an idea, you want something to eat?"

"Sure", Luna said uncertainly.

"Great, I'll go make some breakfast", Mina said with a smile. She bustled off, leaving Luna and Artemis.

"Worried Luna?"  
"What was your first guess?" Luna muttered sarcastically, "Really Artemis, I'd think you would be worried to"

"I'm not worried for one simple reason", Artemis said with a grin, "No matter how many times our girls mess up, they always pull through. This is no different, so just relax why doncha Luna?"  
"Really!" Luna said impatient, "This could still be serious, we should be taking it seriously instead of making jokes. Sure, the girls have done well before, but that doesn't mean they always will, we should be trying to help them"  
"But we're not always going to be there to help"

The words hit Luna like a sludge hammer. He didn't mean that…did he? "Of course we will", she said shakily, "What-"

"Come on Luna. Don't give me that", Artemis said as kindly as he could, "We've had a lot of close calls, I know it isn't nice to think about, but maybe it's time we let the girls grow up without us"

Luna looked at Artemis, not sure what to say. Part of her even knew the white cat was right. But she didn't want to admit it. Even as she thought of an argument though, her mind kept running through all the times she and Artemis had been hurt…but no, no! They could always protect the girls…right?

"You're wrong", she said in a surprisingly strong voice, "If you don't want to help, that's fine, but I'll find a way to help the girls no matter what"

She whirled around and walked away without another word.

* * *

"So what do you guys want to do today?" Serena asked as pleasantly as she could, "Come on, it's a big city, we should do something!"  
She was trying to get past the unpleasantness of the mood around them. Will was being weird and distant, and Artemis and Luna were being completely cold towards each other. Well, actually, Luna was being cold towards Artemis, and Artemis was just ignoring it. "Come on", Serena repeated, "Lets do something, I'm bored! Lets go to the arcade! Yea! The arcade! You guys will love the arcade, I promise!" 

"Serena", Rei muttered, "Tone it down will you, Lita is trying to tell me something over here!"

"Yea, yea", Serena knew Lita and Rei were trying to discuss something, but really, she was trying to be the spirit lifter, why were the others trying to ruin it? "What's on your mind Will?" she took a stab at rousing the red-head from whatever funk she was in.

"What?" Will looked around in surprise, "Oh, nothing, this and that. This trip isn't exactly what I was expecting, but hey, I'm still having fun!"  
"That's the spirit!" Serena said, jumping up, "Come on, if Will can come to so can all of you! Rei and Lita, can you finish this meeting later, we have things to do!"  
"Yea!" Rini jumped up off the ground, obviously thrilled to be doing something, "Lets go to the park!"

"I was thinking something we could all enjoy", Serena said, "And besides Rini, we're in the park, remember?"  
"I meant the part with the swings and everything"

"Swings?" Hay Lin asked, "Lets go!"  
"Connecting with your inner-child Hay Lin?" Irma asked with a smirk. Hay Lin whirled around to glare at her.

"Well, we've got nothing better to do", Serena said finally, "We can go to the park for a bit, humor little Rini"

"I'm not little!"

"Just come on", Irma said, pulling herself up, "Serena's right, we don't have anything better to do-"

"Would you grow up Artemis!"  
Serena whirled around, shocked. Luna and Artemis were glaring at each other, neither of them happy.

"Luna-"  
"You call being a realist childish?" Artemis shot back angrily.

"Guys-"

"Did that cat just talk?" Irma asked, shocked, "Tell me I'm hearing things, just tell me that much, tell me that cat just did not just talk-"

"Maybe you should just start having a little hope!" it was one heated fight, Serena would admit that much, but did they have to be having the fight in public?

"Would you two-"  
"I was right!" Will's yell cut off Serena, "I did hear you talking, I knew it!"  
That snapped the two cats out of their fight. For a second they looked at Serena and the rest of the girls, shocked by what they had done, and then looked back at each other. They held a glare for a second before finally hanging their heads.

"What just happened?" Cornelia asked.

"And you're always calling me a bigmouth", Serena said to Luna angrily, "At least I don't start fights in public!"  
"What were you fighting about anyway?" Lita asked.

"Oh, just Artemis's foolish theories, what else?" Luna said snippily, looking up.

"I'm just being a realist", Artemis repeated, "You know I'm right Luna, why can't you just admit it?"  
"Right about what?" Taranee spoke up suddenly. She'd adjusted to the two talking cats rather quickly, Serena noticed. In fact, they all had. Will, Irma, Cornelia, Hay Lin, none of them looked shocked at the sight of two talking cats. They mostly just looked interested.

"He's not right about anything!" Luna snapped.

"Really?" Artemis asked, "Fine. Lets' ask them", he jerked his head at the girls, "Luna's always trying to help you, always trying to herself involved in the business of the Sailor Scouts, but should she really? She's trying to make herself a permanent part of their- your, I should say, your life- life, but we're not going be here forever are we? We've gotten away before, but that doesn't mean we always will!"

Serena's eyes, which had been growing wider through Artemis's speech, were now as wide as saucers. She was trying to figure out half of what he just said, but one part had registered clearly. _We're not going to be here forever…_did he mean that? She suddenly understood why Luna was so upset with Artemis. Those were horrible things to say, truly horrible-

"Did you say Sailor Scouts?" Will asked suddenly. It caught Serena by surprise. Now that she thought of it, yea, that was exactly what Artemis said, Sailor Scouts. He had blown it. Now, if these girls could put and two together, their secret was completely out. And the girls weren't dumb either.

"Sailor Scouts?" Irma repeated. She was the first to figure it out, "No way!" she cried in realization, "No way, no way! Impossible! Them? They're the…they're the…"

"Nice going Artemis", Luna said sarcastically, "You just blew everything sky high for us, nice going! Very well done I must say!"

"Yea, well, I, uh…" Artemis was at a complete loss for words, "Well, I, you see…"

"So you're the Sailor Scouts!" Hay Lin yelled.

"Sh!" the girls shushed her all at the same time, "Be quiet!" Serena added, "We don't need spilling all our secrets to the world you know!"

"Sorry", Hay Lin said in a small voice, "I just…you know, it's weird…is it true? Are you really…"

"Yes", Serena admitted grudgingly. She glared at Luna and Artemis. For once something wasn't her fault, it was theirs. How could they do this? They were always coming down on her for being irresponsible and everything, and then they turn around and have a blow-out in public? In front of the girls, no less? Whatwere theythinking?

"Awesome!" Irma said in an excited, yet quiet voice, "Seriously cool! Oh man, that is just too awesome, yea!"

"Oh calm down Irma", Cornelia snapped, "Really, you'd think you'd never met-"  
"Cornelia!" Will cut the blonde off. Serena looked between the girls suspiciously, suddenly getting a weird feeling about them. Was it possible? Could they really be…

"What'd you mean by 'we're not going to be here forever'?" Lita asked, "I know you guys have gotten hurt- a lot- but that doesn't mean-"  
"That's exactly what've I've been trying to say!" Luna snapped, "But will he listen? No!"

"I'm just trying to be a realist", Artemis repeated stubbornly, "It's time we let the girls grow up Luna, we don't have a choice anymore"

"Yes, but…" it was easy to tell Luna was breaking down.

"Wait", Serena said, "You aren't giving up on us are you? I realize we've made mistakes, but really, that's no reason to quit on us now. Is it?"

"It isn't about your mistakes", Artemis said quickly, "All though I won't deny, you've made enough, but if something ever happened, you girls have to know how to work on your own"  
"We know how", Rei said quietly, "We just like having you around, you're a help to us, but we do know how to take care of ourselves"  
"Well, that's no reason to-"

"Luna, please, no more fighting"

But it wasn't one of the Sailor Scouts that said that. It was Will. The black cat looked at her in surprise. "Okay, it isn't really my place to say anything, I'll admit that, but really, if I'm following this debate right- and I think I am- it's about Luna and Artemis being your protectors, but maybe not always being here for you. And really, that's a silly thing to fight over, I'm sure they know how to care of themselves, I've seen them in action before, they know how to fight, so really, is this worth getting you two so worked up?"  
"I'll give the girl credit", Rei muttered to Serena, "She catches on fast"

"Yea she does"  
"If Artemis would just stop saying it", Luna said, "If he would just stop saying we aren't always going to be here, I wouldn't have gotten so mad-"  
"But are you always going to be here?" Cornelia piped up, "If something did ever happen…well, I guess I agree with Artemis, in a way"

Luna looked around, defeated. Serena stooped down and gave her a scratch behind the ears, "But don't think that means you two have permission to go and get hurt", she warned the cat, "You still have to take care of yourself, got it? Sam goes for you Artemis"

--

"Talk about a weakest link", Kinjo scoffed, "I'd say they care more about those silly cats then they do saving the world"  
"And that's bad?" Phobos asked, "I'm sure that can be used to our advantage, somehow"  
"Really?" Kinjo asked, "And just what do you have in mind?"

"Do you still have any of those shadow creatures?"  
"The shadows are infiniteness", Kinjo said, "They are a live as long as I am"  
"Well then, lets hope you're not destroyed anytime soon", Phobos said, "Because we're going to need a couple of those shadows"

* * *

"So what do you want to now?"  
"We should start two debate teams and put Luna and Artemis as the captains"  
"Irma!"  
"Just a thought"  
The girls laughed before they could stop themselves. Serena had to admit, having them know who they were made things a bit easier for them. She sighed and leaned back against a tree. Rini was on a swing with Hay Lin pushing her. Serena smiled as she watched Rini fly back and forth on the swing. The little pink-head may have been annoying, but Serena couldn't help but like her. Maybe it had something to do with what Rini was to her in the future, she wasn't sure. Either way, it was a nice feeling. She leaned back against a tree, her eyes closed. Everything seemed so much better now, for some reason…

"What is it Rei?" Serena snapped out of her pleasant thoughts and looked around. Rei was sitting straight up, her ears perked, her eyes tracking.

"Rei?" Serena said uncertainly, "You okay…?"

"There's something…something bad near by", she said after a second, "Yea", she confirmed, "Something very bad"  
"Bad?" Will asked in alarm.

"Yes"  
"Great", Serena said, standing up, "Sailor Scouts we have work to do"  
"Yea", they nodded and stood up. Hay Lin and Rini walked over from the swings, concerned.

"What's going on?"

"Don't worry", Serena said quickly, stooping down next to Rini, "We have to go take care of something, but Will and the others will be here to protect you in case something bad happens. And-" she made a split second decision, "Artemis and Luna will be here to"  
"What?" both cats said at the same time.

"It's okay", Serena said, standing up, "Take care of Rini and the others, we'll be back soon. Come on Sailor Scouts!"

And with that, they took off to where ever the danger was.

* * *

Will stared after the girls as they ran down the street. The look in Rei's eyes had scared her, and she could tell, whatever those girls were facing, it wasn't the run of the mill enemy they usually got.  
"Will they be okay?" Rini asked in a scared voice.

"Of course", Will said quickly, "Don't worry Rini"

"Yea, those girls are tougher than they look, especially Serena", Artemis added, "You should know that by now Rini"  
"I do", she said, "But-"  
"No buts about it", Luna said with a smile, "Those girls have come a long way, and I have no doubt they will come even further as time goes on"

"Too bad you won't be here to see it", Will jumped a mile and whirled around. A tall mane with white-blonde hair and piercing green eyes was standing behind them. And behind him were two of those shadow creatures they'd seen.

"Who are you?" Will asked, stepping forward.

"In time Guardian", the man said. Will eyes grew wide.

"How did you-"  
"I met up with an old friend of yours", the man said, "I believe you know him as Phobos"  
"Phobos!" Irma said angrily, "He's locked a way in Candracar, I don't know what you're getting at you nutcase, but whatever you want, you can't have it, so get lost!"  
"But my demand is so simple", in the blink of an eye the shadow creatures disappeared, and reappeared, right behind the girls. They realized it a split second too late, but were surprised to see they weren't the ones being attacked.

"Luna, Artemis!" Rini cried. Will grabbed her and held her back, but she kept her glare on the man.

"Let them go!" she said angrily, "They haven't done anything to you!"

"Ah, perhaps not", the man said, "But they are what will help us in the long run"  
"You're not taking them if I can help it", Will said, throwing out her hand, "Heart of Candracar!"

There was a burst of pink light. It engulfed Will and her friends. She felt the changes of her body, felt the wings burst out of her back. The light died away, and she was left facing the very familiar looks of her friends in their guardian forms. "What the…" Will looked around and saw Rini looking at her, wide-eyed with shock, "Wow…"

"As we were saying", Irma broke through the awe, "Let those cats go, or we'll make you sorry you ever came here!"

"Am I suppose to be scared?" the man scoffed. Will and the others moved forward, ready to attack, but were cutoff by a sharp, "_No_!" She looked around and saw Luna straining against her captive. Will hesitated.

"Why?"  
"Don't jeopardize yourself for us", Artemis said sternly, "We'll be fine just _protect Rini. _No matter what, that's always more important, we'll be okay"

"I don't think so", Will said harshly, "Cornelia and Irma, take care of Rini, Hay Lin and Taranee, we're going to help Luna and Artemis, go!"

Her friends nodded and instantly jumped off to work. Hay Lin took off into the air, while Cornelia and Irma grabbed Rini and brought her out of harms' way. Will and Taranee turned to fight. Luna and Artemis were struggling to free themselves. Well they weren't going to be alone anymore.

"Air!" Hay Lin yelled from her spot in the sky. A gust of wind blew around the creatures. The girls strained to hold themselves up against the wind. And even after that…the creatures were still standing firm and strong. Looked like this was going to be a bit harder than they thought.

* * *

"This way!" Rei yelled as she ran.

"Well duh!" Serena gasped. Long runs were not her best thing.

"Oh just hurry up Serena!"

"Hey!" Amy yelled, coming to a halt, "What's that?"  
Rei ran back to where her friend was. She was looking down an ally, a look of fear in her eyes. "What-" Rei started to ask. She cut herself off as she realized what Amy was looking at. "What is it?"

It was like that blue thing they had seen the other day- Will had called it a portal, or something like that- except that it was pure black. Rei shuddered. She could tell that thing was completely and totally evil.

"So…what do we do?" Serena asked, "Should we…go through, or stand here, or just throw rocks at it or what?"  
"I kind of wish we'd brought Luna and Artemis with us", Mina admitted, "But what can we do-"  
"Something's happening!" Lita cut her off, pointing at…whatever the thing was, "Look!"  
A crackling energy had surrounded the thing. It looked like something was coming through…

"Better be ready", Serena said, "Ready Sailor Scouts?"  
The girls tensed. The crackling around the black thing increased, and suddenly to of those shadow things they had fought burst through. "Look out!" Serena cried. Forgetting the fact they were supposed to fight these things, she turned around to run away. Rei sighed and grabbed Serena by the collar.

"Suck it up", Rei said, "Lets do this already, Mars Star Power!"

Rei closed her eyes as she felt the changes happen. She could feel herself being absorbed by heat, and just barely registered the fact that her friends had followed the suit. A red light engulfed her, and when it died away, she was no longer herself. Well, not exactly anyway. She looked around to make sure her friends were still with her, and sighed with relief as she saw that they were all there. Not that she had any doubts, but still, she knew Serena had a tendency to run.

"Lets cook these things", Rei said, "Mars Fire Ignite!"  
She focused her energy on the creatures, and a fireball shot at them. Faster than the link of an eye, the creatures literally disintegrated, and the fireball shot by, hitting the ally wall.

"No way!" Rei yelled in frustration, "Where'd they go?"

"There!" Serena yelled, pointing a little ways down the street. The creatures, or things, or whatever they were, were running at them with full speed. _How does something without legs move so fast? _Rei thought, aggravated.

"We have to do something", Lita said, "But what?"  
"Well, fighting comes to mind", Mina said, "But how is the question…"  
"Whatever we do, can we please do it now?.!" Serena cried as the things reared to attack. Black energy shot at the five girls with amazing accuracy, considering how far away they were. All five squealed and dove out of the way of the attack. "Mercury Bubbles!" Amy cried, directing an attack of her own at the creatures. Again though, they disintegrated and appeared again about five feet away.  
"Is there anyway to beat these things?.!" Serena asked, losing her patience, "Moon Tiara Magic!"  
She grabbed her tiara and threw it at the creatures. This time they didn't have time to move. Both of them were absorbed by light and thrown backwards. "Yes!" Serena yelled as she caught the tiara, "That's more like it!"

"Don't celebrate yet", Lita said, "Look!"  
Already the things were reorientating themselves, and bracing for another attack. "Oh come on!" Serena yelled, "Give me a break!"  
"Wait a second…" Rei said, "Look!"

The things were heading back towards the portal thing they had come out of. They jumped through, and with a crackle of energy, the portal or whatever it was disappeared. "O-Kay…" said Serena said, confused, "What in the world was that all about?"  
"Oh no…" realization dawned on Rei, "The others! Lets go!"  
It took the girls a second to figure out what she meant, but it clicked, and they were off and running.

* * *

"Whoa!" Will dove and hit the ground, barely managing to scrape past being hit. She pulled herself up, only to dive back down again. She couldn't get a single hit in, and it was starting to bug her. "Taranee now!" she yelled suddenly. Taranee nodded from behind the two creatures, aimed, and fired a fireball at them. It hit them square in the back and sent them flying. They also lost their grip on Luna and Artemis, who dove and escaped. "Yes!"

"No!" the man leading the attack yelled. In a flash, he moved, attacked Cornelia and Irma, and grabbed Rini.

"Help!" she yelled, struggling against his grip.

"Rini!"

"Hahaha…" the man said evenly, "And now for your choice: the little girl, or the two cats?"  
Will watched helplessly as Rini struggled. What could she do? She had to help, she just had to…

"Let her go you creep!" Will's head snapped around, and she nearly yelled in relief.

"The Sailor Scouts!" Luna said, also sounding relieved.

"About time to", Irma grumbled, picking herself up.

"What's going on?" Serena asked, looking around, "I mean-"  
"Ask questions later, help me now!" Rini cut her off.

"Oh, right!" Serena said quickly, "As I was saying, let her go weirdo, or you'll be answering to me!"  
"Boy, you know, I doubt they're scared"  
"Oh shut up Mars"

"Enough!" the man snapped suddenly, "The choice is quite simple, if your two little cat friends come with me, than I'll let the girl go"  
"Luna and Artemis?" Serena asked, "What do you want with them-?"  
"Just make your choice!"

_What now? _Will thought, _We can't surrender Luna and Artemis, but we can't let Rini get hurt either, what should we do?_

"We'll go with you"  
Will snapped out of her thoughts and looked around. Luna and Artemis were gazing at the ground, a defeated look in their eyes. "What?" Serena asked, "No! You can't-"  
"Don't argue Serena", Luna said quietly, "We have to do this"  
"Very good", the man said quietly. He dropped Rini, who instantly ran away, and held out his hand. There was a flash of light, and a second later a cage had surrounded Luna and Artemis.

"No!" Will yelled, "Let them go!"  
"It's okay Will", Artemis said, giving her a stern look. Will faltered for a split-second too long.

"Ta-ta girls", there was a flash of light, and the man, along with the cage holding Luna and Artemis, disappeared.

"No!" Serena yelled, panicked. Will looked around in shock, as though hoping the two cats would come back, but nothing. She hung her head sadly. This could not have been more wrong.

"Are you okay Rini?" Hay Lin asked, making her way to the girl.

"Y-Yea", Rini stuttered, sounding as though she were about to cry, "I-I'm sorry, this is all my fault-"  
"No it isn't", Will said quickly, "Don't worry about it, we'll get them back"  
"Hey", Serena said suddenly, looking at Will, "Is…is that you Will?"  
"Oh…" Will looked down at herself. She was still in her guardian outfit. "Oops…" she quickly threw out her hand. In a flash of pink light, the girls were back in their regular forms.

"Oh, right", Serena said, "We shouldn't be standing around like this, huh?"

Her friends nodded in agreement, and in a flash of white light they were back in their own forms.  
"So exactly what are you?" Lita said at once, "Well?"  
"It's a long story…" Irma said.

"Well, I suppose we have time", Serena said with a sigh, "No Luna to order us around…"

"Or Artemis to agree with her", Mina added. Rini looked between them for a second, then cast her gaze back to the ground.

"We'll find them", Will said confidently, "Promise"


	6. Chapter 6

One quick note before I start this chapter:

**Sokai- **Sorry, I like using the American names better, I've been watching the show since I was 6 or 7, and I've only always heard the American names. Sorry. (and I would have replied to this in a message, but it was an anonymous review). Okay, story time!

* * *

**Chapter 6**- The Great Escape

"Guardians of the Veil?" Amy repeated, "What Veil?"  
"Finally, something Amy doesn't know", Serena said, smiling slightly, "Who woulda thought?"

"Be serious for once Serena", Rei said impatiently. She looked back at the guardians, "Keep going"

"Right", Will said, "Anyways…the Veil is just an invisible barrier, it separates our world from other worlds. The one glitch though is that sometimes the Veil becomes weak, so guardians are appointed to close the tears in the Veil- we just call them portals- and keep the evil out"

"Exactly", Taranee said with a nod, "It isn't easy, but we're not on our own doing this, we also have powers to help fight any evil that comes through"  
"We thought all the portals would only just appear in Heatherfield", Hay Lin added, "Looks like we were wrong though"

"Amazing…" Rini said in a barely audible voice, "That's pretty cool. So what was that pink crystal thingy?"  
"It's called the Heart of Candracar", Will said, holing up her hand. There was a flash of pink light, and the crystal appeared on the girl's palm, "It's what give us our powers"

It was an amazing story, Amy had to admit. But some how it just didn't seem logical. She'd grown up not believing anything unless she had proof. Those theories, of course, had all been shattered when she became a Sailor Scout, but still, she'd always tried to cling to her old beliefs.

"It's unbelievable", Mina piped up suddenly, "Then again, being a Sailor Scout gives you a taste to believe the unbelievable, so I guess this is pretty normal"

"Too true", Serena muttered. The moment of silence gave all of them time to think about how much their lives had changed. Amy, for one, enjoyed the changes, to an extent. She hadn't had any friends before she became a Sailor Scout, and she loved helping people now. It was all rather nice. Sure, there were dangers, and yes, she would hav much more enjoyed just curling up with a good book and forgetting about all of this, but she wouldn't want to forget her friends.

"Anyways, now that we're all filled in", Mina broke through her thoughts, "we have more important matters to look at"  
"Luna and Artemis", Serena said with a nod, "We need to save them"

"But how?" Will asked, "We don't know where they are"

"We'll find them", Amy said confidently, "Don't worry"

* * *

"Ow!" Luna and Artemis cried at the same time as they were both thrown into a cage. They both straightened up as they heard the cage door slam. Luna looked up to glare at her captor, only to see that the face of whoever it was holding them was cast in shadows.

"Get comfortable", the person said roughly, "You'll be in there for a long time"

Luna heard the sound of footsteps, and then…nothing. "Artemis", she hissed as soon as she was sure they were alone, "Artemis, are you okay?"  
"I'm here", he muttered, stumbling up, "Fine, not so sure, but here"

"We need to find a way out of here", Luna said, ignoring the white cat's grumbling, "Any ideas?"  
"Luna we just got in here", he said, "I haven't had time to think up a way out"

"Right", the black cat sighed wearily, "This is bad. I hope the girls are okay, we need to find a way out of here"  
"We need to figure out where we are first", Artemis said, "If we're half way out to sea we don't stand much of a chance of getting out of here, unless you've developed a liking of water, and I don't know about you, but I haven't"  
"Yea, but for all you know wheretwo feet away from the city", Luna contradicted him carefully.

"Exactly", Artemis said with a nod, "That's why we need to know _where_ we are, before we start thinking up escape plans"  
"Right", Luna admitted, "Right, okay…so how do we figure out where we are?"

"Well…that's pretty much we're my stroke of genius ends", Artemis said with a sheepish grin.

"Of course", Luna said with a sigh, "Start thinking, we need to get out of here soon"

"I want to know why they wanted us so bad", Artemis said suddenly, "They had to have a reason, unless they just feel like torturing us"

"I wouldn't put it past some of these creeps", Luna muttered. Artemis gave her a smile.

"Don't worry about it", he said, "Lets just try and get out of here"

"Right", Luna sighed, "I feel like we're just chasing our tails though, this cage is sealed up tight, so unless you have the keys, we're stuck"  
"Well, I don't have the keys", Artemis said cunningly, "But how hard could it be to outsmart one bad guy?"

"Something tells me it'll be harder than we think"

"Lets give it a whirl", Artemis said, stepping up to one of the cage walls, "Thin spacing, so obviously we can't squeeze through", he shifted his gaze to the lock, "Do you know how to picklock?"  
"No"

"Too bad, neither do I", he said, "Well, we all have to start somewhere"  
He extended one of his claws and carefully stuck it in the lock, twisting it around carefully. "Where'd you learn to do that?" Luna asked in amazement.

"Never learned", he said, concentrating no the lock, "Like I said, first time for everything"

"Hope this works", Luna said. She was starting to get worried. Or even more worried than usual anyway.

"You're going to overstress yourself if you keep going on like this", Artemis said distractedly, "Stop worrying so much. We'll get out of here"  
"I just hope the girls don't do anything stupid while we're here sitting on our paws", Luna said.

"It wouldn't be like the girls to not do anything stupid", the white cat said, "They'll figure out what to do with themselves until we get back, until then, lets just work on getting out of here"

--

* * *

"So…any ideas?"  
"No"  
"Yea, me neither"

The girls sighed wearily. They were still at the park, and were still trying to figure out how to save Luna and Artemis. They were all worried, but Serena and Mina were beside themselves. After all, Luna and Artemis had been the ones that introduced them to the ways of the Sailor Scouts, and had always been there for them. It was pretty complicated.

"Do you think they're okay?" Serena asked suddenly.

"Why are you so worried?" Rei asked, "It's not like you to get beside yourself, especially not over Luna, you're always trying to be shot of her, you said she's just one annoying pain"  
"But that doesn't mean I don't care about her", Serena shot back, "Okay, yea, she is annoying, and she is always picking on me and calling me irresponsible, and lazy, and calling me a ditz, and meatball head, and airhead and--"

"Cut to the chase, if you try to list every name she's ever called you", Rei said, "we'll be here for a week"  
"The point is", Serena said, glaring at Rei, "I do care about Luna. So get to it, we still have to figure out how to save them"

"Yes _master_", Rei muttered sarcastically, looking back up at the sky, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we haven't had much luck figuring out any ways to save them yet. We don't even know where they are!"  
"I know", Serena said, defeated, "But we have to think of something, don't we?"  
"Yea", Rei said, "You're right, I guess"

"I've got it!" Irma said, bolting up suddenly. She'd been sprawled over the grass, looking up at the sky, but now she was sitting straight up, her eyes glittering excitedly, "I know what to do!"  
"I'm guessing it's going to be something magical related, isn't it?" Will asked.

"Well, yea…"

"Lets try and keep the magic down to a minimum", Will said, scolding her slightly.

"I know, I know…" Irma said, "I know what you're getting at, give me a break"

"Great…"

"It's getting late", Rini said suddenly, yawning, "Maybe we should put up the planning for tonight"

"Yea…" one by one the girls are started to stand up, depressed and defeated. They hadn't come up with one decent plan to find Luna and Artemis, and it was pretty depressing.

* * *

"Yes!" Artemis said triumphantly as the lock clicked open, "Hehehe, that wasn't too hard"

"I'll give you credit", Luna said, pushing the cage door open, "Lets go"

The two cats stumbled out and quickly made their way out of where ever they were. "Wait", Artemis said, coming to a halt, "We still don't know where we are, if we really are half way out to sea or something, we could be in real trouble"

"Oh yea", Luna put the breaks on and turned back to face her friend. They were still in trouble, free of that cage or not.

"There's something else that's bothering me", Luna said, "Doesn't this seem too easy?"  
"Now that you mention it… yes", Artemis said after a second of thinking.

"We should try--"  
"Ah!" Artemis's yell cut through Luna's sentence. She whirled around and saw why it had been so easy: they had walked right into a trap. In front of them were about a dozen shadow creatures.

"Uh…" Luna backed away carefully, and whirled around to run, only to find that, like the area in front of them, was blocked by shadow creatures.

"We're in trouble", Artemis said.

"Oh gee, you think?" Luna snapped sarcastically, "Do you think we can get by them?"  
"We're small enough, it's worth a shot"

Luna nodded, and darted underneath the legs of one of the shadow creatures. Artemis followed suit and the two of them ran down through the cave, with the shadow creatures on their tails; literally. _This is not good_, Luna thought as she ran, _Not good at all_

"They're gaining!" Artemis called from behind her.

"I know, I know!" Luna gasped. The running was starting to get to her, she'd spent too much time eating sweets with Serena. "Down there!" she said suddenly, "There's a tunnel, turn down there!"  
The two cats pulled a sharp left and shot down the tunnel. It temporarily confused the shadow creatures, giving them time to run away. "The tunnel divides up ahead!" Artemis called, "Which way?"

" Split up", Luna said, "We can meet each other outside"

The cats skidded to a halt as they came to the divide. "Are sure about this Luna?" Artemis said.

"Now is not the time to ask questions", Luna said hurriedly.

"But what if one of us can't get out?"

"We'll have to figure it out on our own then", Luna said, "This is the only way to loose those things though"  
"But--"

"Artemis!" Luna cried, "We can't question this, it's our only plan and our only hope of getting away, now go!"

She shot down the left tunnel, leaving a shocked Artemis behind. _I'm sorry Artemis_, she thought, trying to block out the tears that threatened to build up, _But this is the only way. Be safe_

She shot down another tunnel and looked back. Big mistake. She was still being chased. She looked forward a little too late and tripped over her own feet.

"Gah!" she tumbled head over heal and flew forward. "Oof!" she landed on her back, winded. "Oh…" she pulled herself up with a groan. That hadn't been a fun trip. She looked back and saw the shadow creatures still coming for her. "Uh…there'll be time to rest later", she said quietly as she took off again. Suddenly she felt the ground go out beneath her feet and was once again sent spiraling forward. "Aaahhhh!" she hit the ground with a thud and looked back. _When will I learn to just look ahead and forget what's behind me_? She asked herself as she stumbled up. Her front legs gave out as she collapsed again, shaking. She'd taken one hit too many. _I have to keep running_, she thought, _I'm a goner otherwise_

* * *

"Aaahhhh!" Artemis flew forward and hit the ground. "Ack!" he straightened up with a groan, "Don't they ever give up?"

He got his answer as the creatures started to attack again. They didn't give up. "Fine", he said, "Then there's only one thing to do. Run!"

He took off down the tunnel. He had _told_ Luna splitting up was a bad idea. _He had told her_. Why did she have to be so stubborn, why couldn't she ever just listen? He looked back to see how much distance he had put between himself and the shadow creatures. It wasn't enough to make him feel comfortable. He pushed his self as hard as he could, but he had been running for awhile, and was tired. _Faster, faster_, he urged, _Faster!_

Suddenly he felt his feet give out from under him. "Ah!" he yelled as he was lifted up by one of the creatures, "Let me go!"

He twisted around and slashed his captor across the face. The creature roared and threw him. He land about five feet away, crashing with an "Oof!"

He straightened up with a grimace, and glared at the shadow creatures. _They really don't give up_, he thought, _Great. Wait what's that?_

He looked up ahead and saw a light. "A light at the end of the tunnel!" he cried, "Oh…I couldn't have worded that better, could I?"

He looked behind him, _Worry about wording later Artemis_, he told himself, _Run now!_

He turned and started to run, only to feel the ground beneath him blow up. "Aaahhhh!" he flew forward and hit the ground, skidding about five feet as he landed. "Ow…" he straightened up, shaking, "I gotta get out of here. Hey!" he yelled to the creatures, "behind you!"  
Luckily they were dumb enough to look. He took off down the tunnel, pushing every part of his aching body as hard as he could. He'd put enough distance between himself and the creatures to feel safe, happily. He shot out of the tunnel and tripped over a tree root. "Wha!" he clawed at the air as he flew forward and hit the ground. "This is just not my day", he muttered as he pushed himself up. He was covered in various bruises and every part of his body hurt. _I wonder if Luna got out_, he thought, looking back at the tunnel, _What if she's still in there? I have to go back, she could be in trouble_

He turned to go back and nearly collapsed as he was overcome with pain. _I don't stand a chance, I'd just be in the way_

He looked around, trying get his bearings and figure out where he was. _Wait a second…_ he thought, squinting, _Is that…yes! Tokyo Radio Tower! That means I can't be far outside the city, if I can get back I can get the Sailor Scouts! Perfect!_

He turned to go towards the city, only to collapse again. _This is gonna take awhile_

* * *

Hay Lin's eyes fluttered open. _What am I doing awake?_ She thought, _I'm exhausted, can't I just sleep?_

She rolled over and saw Mina was sitting up in bed, looking at her covers. "What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up herself. Mina looked over at her, surprised.

"Oh, hey", she said quietly, "I'm worried about Luna and Artemis, that's all, I hope they're okay"

Hay Lin sighed and looked over at the clock. No time like midnight to have a chat. "I'm sure they're okay", Hay Lin said, "If that makes you feel any better, I mean, I'm sure they're fine"

"I hope so", Mina said, "Artemis was like my first real friend you know. A lot of kids never really liked me, I used to be really shy, and everyone thought I was just a snob. It was kind of a shock when I came home one day and found a white cat sitting on my bed, even more of a scare when I heard him talking. It was kind of funny, after I got through trying not to scream"

Hay Lin laughed, "Sounds like when first found out we were the Guardians, we completely freaked, it was kind of weird, the five of us regular school girls, two of them still brand new to the school, all of a sudden throw into some super hero business. Not easy"  
"Sounds like most of us Sailor Scouts", Mina said with a nod, "Lita, Rei, Amy, and I were all pretty much a bunch of school rejects no one liked, Serena was the one that pulled us together. Being a Sailor Scout has been the best thing to ever happen to me. And if it wasn't for Artemis, none of it would have happened. I wouldn't have the friends I have, I'd still be just the shy girl no one likes. I owe a lot to Artemis, the least I can do is find a way to help him"  
"We will", Hay Lin said with a nod, "We'll get him back, and Luna to. I promise"

Mina looked over at Hay Lin and smiled. She wasn't sure if she had made Mina feel completely better, but it was a start.

_Scritch, scritch _

Hay Lin and Mina's heads both swiveled around.

_Scritch, scritch_

"What's that?" Hay Lin asked shakily.

"I dunno", Mina said carefully, standing up, "Who's there?" She called, "What do you want? Answer me!"

_Scritch, scritch_

"That's it", she said, standing up. She made her way over to the door, and flung it open.

"Artemis!"

Hay Lin's mouth dropped as she heard the name. She scrambled out of bed and ran to the door. "What happened?" Mina asked, kneeling down. Hay Lin looked around Mina. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Poor Artemis", Mina said, scooping the white cat up, "What happened?"

Artemis was covered from head to tail in black and blues and various bumps and bruises. He had definitely seen better days. "Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling down next to Mina.

"Luna and I were taken to this cave outside the city", he said, wincing with every word, "We were thrown in some cave but we got out. We were…we were ambushed by those shadow creatures…we split up to try and loose them, but it didn't work…I wasn't to great against those things, I was thrown around a lot…"  
He grimaced in pain, and squeezed his eyes shut.

"What happened to Luna?" Hay Lin asked after a second.

"I'm not sure", he admitted, opening his eyes to face her, "I wanted to go back and look for her, but--"  
"It's a good thing you didn't", Mina said quickly, "You're in no condition to fight"

"So Luna could still be in danger?" Hay Lin asked, "We've gotta help her!"

"Right", Mina said, standing up, "Get dressed Hay Lin, I'm going to call the others. Can you lead us back to that cave Artemis?"

He nodded weakly. "Great", Hay Lin said as she made her way to get dressed, "Lets get this show on the road"

* * *

"Serena's always late!" Rei complained furiously. Lita yawned and looked over at her wearily.

"It is pretty late", Mina said, cradling Artemis, "I didn't mean to get you all woken up, but this seemed pretty important"

"It is", Rei said, "And seeing as how it's Serena's cat we're trying to rescue, you'd think she'd care more, but no!"

"Hey!" the girls looked around tiredly and saw a still looking bed ready Will dragging an even more tired looking Serena down the street, who was pulling a practically still sleeping Rini after her.

"What's the big emergency?" Serena yawned.

"You didn't tell her?" Mina shifted her gaze over to Rei, who smiled guiltily.

"Ah, oops…no wonder she wasn't in a hurry to get here, huh?" Rei said guiltily, "Uh, hehehehe…"

"You did that on purpose didn't you?" Serena said furiously, fully awake, "You purposely didn't tell me just so you could have a reason to be mad, huh?"

"I, uh, no, no, of course not, nothing like that, of course not!" Rei stuttered.

"What's the big emergency anyway?" Rini yawned, looking up at Mina tiredly. Suddenly she was wide awake, "Artemis!"

"What?" Will and Serena looked around, interested. "Artemis!" Serena said, "You're okay!" she looked around expectedly, "But…where's Luna?"  
"Uh…" Lita stepped forward carefully, "Artemis was telling us…she might still be where they were being held captive--"  
"What?.!"  
"We split up", Artemis explained quietly, "I haven't seen her since"

Lita looked over at Artemis sadly. She knew he felt guilty, and Serena freaking out probably wasn't helping.

"It's okay", Mina said, stroking Artemis lightly, "We'll find Luna, I promise"

"Lets get going then", Serena said, "Artemis, take us to her!"

* * *

_Where am I?_ Luna stirred and opened her eyes weakly. _What's going on?_ She thought wearily. She tried to stand up but pain coursed through her body and she instantly collapsed.

"Don't bother little kitty", she looked up and saw a man standing above her.

"Who are you?" she asked weakly.

"My name, all though it is none of your concern, is Kinjo", the man said, "The original plan was to take you and the white cat and use you as bait for the Scouts and the pathetic guardians, but I guess you'll have to do"  
"Guardians?" she repeated, "What are those?"  
"Ah", another voice said, "the girls never told you who they are? Well, that will make things so much easier"

"Who are you?" she seemed to be getting a lot of use out of that question.

"In time", the voice said, "Lets just hope your little bait trick works, especially seeing we only have one cat"

"I'm surprised those retched girls haven't come yet", Kinjo said, "Maybe they just don't care about the cat, in which case this whole thing was a waste of time"

Bait? That was all she was? Bait? Still, his last words stuck in her head. _Maybe they really don't care_, she thought, _Could it be?_

She knew she bugged Serena sometimes, and she knew she had a tendency to bug the others, but could they really have abandoned her?

"No problem then", the first voice said, "We'll just dispose of her"

She definitely understood that. She tried to pull herself up, only to have her legs give out from beneath her. She glared at her captives, but that was all she could, she was in no condition to fight.

"Freeze!" she looked around in surprise. If she hadn't already been down she just might have collapsed with relief.

"You came!" she cried weakly.

"Well of course", Serena said, sounding surprised, "What'd ya think, we'd leave ya here?"  
"Cut to the chase", Kinjo said harshly, "Looks like our plan did work, well didn't it? Next time maybe you won't doubt me _Prince_ Phobos"

"Phobos?" It was only then that Luna noticed standing behind the Sailor Scouts were Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin. Or at least it looked like them. They could have easily been anyone else, if she hadn't seen the girls in those fairy forms before.

"Phobos?" Irma repeated, "No way, we got you locked up for good!"  
"Or so you thought", Phobos scoffed, "Too bad, looks can be so deceiving can't they?"

"I don't believe this!" Cornelia said, "Can we do _anything_ right?"

"We didn't come here to fight", Amy reminded them.

"Right, lets snag Luna and get lost", Mina said, nodding. It was only then Luna noticed who was with them- _Artemis_.

_He's okay_, she thought, relaxing, _He's okay…_

"You think it will be that easy?" Kinjo scoffed, "Think again girls! Shadows, attack!"  
Out of no where about a dozen shadow creatures appeared and lunged at the girls.

"Now Mercury!" Serena yelled.

"Right", Amy nodded, "Mercury Ice Storm Flash!"

A fog of bubbles filled the small cavern they were in. "Good job", Luna heard Serena say, "Now lets find Luna in all this and get lost"

Suddenly Luna felt herself being lifted up, "No one is going anywhere"

She had a feeling it wasn't one of the girls grabbing her. "Let me go", she said, twisting weakly, "Don't touch me!"

"Don't fight little kitty", Kinjo said mockingly, "Come on now…"

She twisted around gave him a sharp scratch across the face. He howled in fury and dropped her. She scrambled away as fast as she could, which in reality wasn't that fast.

"Luna!"

She looked around and saw Will standing right next to her. "Come on", the red-head said carefully, kneeling down and scooping her up, "Come on, lets get going"

* * *

"Oh. _Luna_!" Serena cuddled the black cat happily, "You're safe! Oh I'm so happy you're not hurt!"

"Ow!" Luna cried, "Serena!"  
"Sorry", Serena said quickly, loosening her grip, "I didn't hurt you did I, I'm so sorry, oh Luna!"

"Calm down Serena, you're giving me a headache", Luna muttered wearily.

"Calm on Serena, put her down for two seconds", Mina said with a hint of impatience, "Come on, I have to get her fixed up"

Serena reluctantly laid the cat back down her bed. Mina unwrapped some bandages and carefully wrapped Luna up in them. Artemis was laying next to her, having already been bandaged up himself. He opened one eye wearily, and Mina could have sworn she saw a small smile spread over his face as he watched Luna.

"You're all done", Mina said with a smile, "Just try not to overdue it for a few days"

"Me? Overdue it?" Luna muttered sarcastically, "When have I ever _overdone_ it?"

"Come on", Mina laughed as she stood up, "Lets let Rini, Will, Serena, and Luna get some rest you guys. Come on Hay Lin"

She scooped Artemis off of Serena's bed and bade the others good night as her and Hay Lin left.

"Some night", Hay Lin commented as they made their way home, "I say we sleep to noon tomorrow. Later even. Maybe one. Or two. I say we just sleep the day away"

"I wish", Mina said, "Unfortunately, there's school tomorrow"

"You've got to be kidding, is it Sunday already?" Hay Lin asked, "No way, and we're going to be running off zip hours of sleep, wanna trade places Artemis?"  
"Not for all sardines in the world", Artemis muttered, "All though maybe being one of you would be a little safer"

"I wouldn't push it that far", Mina said with a smile, "Come on, lets just get inside, I'm beat"

Hay Lin was asleep about two seconds after she lay down in bed. Mina couldn't sleep though.

"Artemis?" she said quietly, "Artemis, I know you're awake, come on, talk to me"  
"About what?"  
"Luna"

She felt Artemis, who was laying on one of legs, cringe, "What about her?"  
"You seemed pretty guilty earlier, when you were telling us about leaving her, why is that?"  
"She was the one that suggested splitting up", he said after a second, "I guess I figured if I'd argued with her a little more about it she wouldn't have gotten left behind"

"You love her don't you?"

A silence met her words. Mina's eyes glowed. She knew she was right. She could tell Artemis was mulling over her words.

"Well?"  
Artemis stood up and turned to see her, a solemn look in his eyes. Even if the dark, she could see him. She saw him nod slightly, and smiled. _I knew it_, she thought.

"Do you think she knows?"  
"I can honestly say I don't know", he said, laying down.

"I think she knows. And I think she shares the feeling"

Mina rolled over and quickly pretended to fall asleep, to give Artemis time to think.

* * *

"Luna?"  
"Yes Serena?"  
"What made you think we wouldn't come and help you?"  
Serena listened to the silence that met her words.

"Luna?"  
"I…it was nothing"  
"Luna, I can tell when you're lying"  
"I heard those men saying Artemis had gotten away", she explained finally, "I figured the first thing he would do would be to find you girls, but I felt like I had been there for so long, I was afraid you weren't coming"

"Luna we would never abandoned you", Serena said, sitting up, "You can be pretty annoying sometimes, but you're still our friend, we would never leave you, and I think even Will and the others have grown to like you and Artemis"

Yes, well…" Luna wasn't sure what to say.

"Artemis was really worried about you", Serena said suddenly, "He kept saying it was his fault you were still being held captive and that he should have tried to save you"  
"He really is a stubborn cat, that Artemis"  
"That must be why you're in love with him"

Luna's ears perked up at the words, "What?"  
"Come on Luna, a blind man in America could tell you have a thing for each other", Serena said calmly, laying back down, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm going to sleep, I still have school tomorrow. Good night"  
"Good night", Luna muttered, closing her eyes. Her mind drifted back to what Serena had said. Where did the girl get these ideas? And more importantly, why was she suddenly right?  
_Tomorrow's a new day_, she thought as she drifted to sleep, _Lets see what it brings_

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry it's been um…/counts on fingers/ too long to count since I updated, I've been really busy. Summer Vacation is starting in less then a month though, so soon I'll have all the time in the world to work on my stories, yea! Until then though, will you settle for scattered updates here and there? Hopefully you will, 'cause it's all I got for ya. Okay, on with the story

-------------------------------------

**Chapter 7- **New Friends and a Fight

"Where's Rini?" Serena asked, annoyed, "She's late, we don't have all day here!"  
"Be patient Serena", Luna said for the millionth time, "She'll be out"

"Rei always yells at me for being late", Serena said, "This time it's Rini's fault, and I'll be blamed anyway!"  
"She'll be out", Will said, looking at her watch, "Any minute now…"  
"Hey guys!" Rini rushed out of the building, right on cue.

"Finally", Serena said, jumping up, "Lets go squirt, I gotta drop you off and get to the temple"  
"I wanna come to!" Rini said at once.

"No, it's Sailor Business"

"Will is going!" Rini cried.

"Will can actually contribute something", Serena said, "Anyone who can contribute can come"  
"Then why are you going?"

Not funny brat!" Serena snapped, "Now come on, lets get home"  
"I'm coming to the temple!" Rini yelled.

"No!"  
Yes!"  
"No!"  
"Yes!"

"Oh brother", Luna and Will said at the same time, sighing.

"I want to come!"  
"Just let her come Serena", Will said finally, "Rei's going to be mad about us being late, I don't think we have time to go to your house"

"Yes!" Rini cheered, taking off down the street, "Yea, lets go!"

"Great, just terrific", Serena muttered, stalking down the street.

"Your late", Rei snapped as Will, Serena, Rini, and Luna made their way through the temple entrance.

"Rini's fault", Serena said.

"Serena's fault", Rini said at the same time. _Oh no_, Will thought.

"My fault?" Serena asked, "You were the one that got out late!"  
"And _you_", Rini shot back, "Are the one that started the fighting!"

"You're brat!"

"And _you're_ a donut snorfing duffus!"

Will sighed, "How do you guys put up with this?"

Mina looked around, "Put up with what?"  
"I see"  
"Okay guys", Lita said, cutting through Rini and Serena's fight, "That's enough, we have business to take care of. By the way Rini, why are you here?"  
"Because she's a brat", Serena muttered. Rini looked around at her.

"I am not!"  
"Are too!"  
"Am not!"  
"Oh brother", Will muttered, walking over to her friends.

"Do they ever stop?" Irma asked curiously.

"Nope", Will sighed, "They're like you and Cornelia, Irma"

"We don't fight that much", Irma said, giving Rini and Serena a doubtful look, "So we?"  
"Yes", Taranee, Will, and Hay Lin said at the same time. Irma grinned.

"We'll try to cut back"

"Okay!" Amy said, breaking up the fight, "Come on guys, we didn't come here to watch Serena and Rini fight, lets get to work"  
"Finally", Luna and Artemis said at the same time, sighing.

"All right", Rei said, "Lets go over what we know so far. So what do we know?"

"Who's Phobos?" Luna said suddenly. Will sighed and looked over at her friends.

"An old enemy of ours, sadly", Irma said, "We thought we took care of him for good—"  
"What a laugh", Cornelia finished bitterly.

"So who's that guy he was working with?" Mina asked, "Ever seen him before?"  
The guardians shook their heads. "We were hoping you had", Taranee said, shrugging, "So I take it you haven't either"  
"Nope", which brought them right back to square one.

"We have no clue what we're doing, do we?" Hay Lin asked.

"No, but then again what else is new?" Irma asked, shrugging.

Rini sighed, "You guys are boring I'm out of here, fill me in later Serena, bye!"

"Brat", Serena muttered, "Good riddance!"

* * *

"Now I know why I never go to those meetings, they're so boring", Rini said as she ran down the street, "I have so many better things to do with my time. So what should I do? I know, I'll go down to the park, that'll be fun, more fun than listening to the girls—"  
But she soon realized it was no more fun to be at the park than anything else. "There's no one around, how boring, so now what do I do?"

"Are you talking to yourself?" Rini whirled around. A girl with shoulder length straight-brown hair and shining blue eyes was standing behind her. She was wearing a grey school uniform, a lot like Rei's.

"It's not nice to listen to other people's conversations", Rini said defensively.

"But you weren't talking to anyone", the girl said, "You're right though, it's rude, I'm sorry. My name's Hiroko, by the way"

"I'm Rini", she held out her hand, "Rhymes with teeny"  
"Nice to meet you Rini", Hiroko took her hand and shook it. Rini smiled happily. She loved meeting new friends, and Hiroko seemed to be right around her age, too.

"So are you here by yourself?" Rini asked as they started walking through the park together.

"Yeah, my dad is working, and I was bored just hanging around at home, so I decided to come down to the park", Hiroko explained, "Are you here alone?"  
"Yeah", Rini nodded, "My friends are having a meeting but I was bored, so I decided to drop out early and come down here until the meeting was done"

"I see"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Rini switched gears.

"No, my mom died when I was little, so I just live with my dad", Hiroko explained, "How about you?"  
"Nah", Rini shook her head, "I live with my cousin Serena and her family, Serena's a lot like a sister though, she's so annoying"  
"Younger?"  
"Older"

The two girls laughed, and Rini was suddenly sure. Definitely a new friend moment.

_Crash!_  
And the moment was ruined. "What was that?" Hiroko whirled around, "Did you hear that Rini?"  
"Yeah", Rini looked around. She was sure she knew what it was. "Um, Hiroko, I have to call my aunt and ask her to run down to my school for something, I'll be right back, okay? Really sorry…"  
"It's okay, go on", she nodded, "You don't have to come back or anything—"  
"I'll be right back", Rini promised, taking off. _I'd better find a safe place to transform_, she thought as she ran towards the source of the crashing, _I'm sure this is Scout business, now I'm glad I left the meeting_

"What's that?" she gasped as she ran into the downtown area. It was a monster, that was for sure, ten feet tall, green, and covered in blades and spikes. Not pleasant. "Oh no!" she dove behind a bush, "Luna P come here!" she grabbed the black cat ball and pushed it's nose, "Hey girls there's a problem downtown, get here soon!"

"We're on our way Rini", Serena's voice came back.

"Good", Rini turned back to the monster, "Now _I'm_ getting in the game. _Moon Prism Power!_"

Pink energy wrapped itself around her. When it faded away, she was Sailor Mini Moon. "Hey you!" she jumped out from behind the bush, "Yeah, I'm talking to you, over here! You're reign of terror on these innocent people is done, now you have to fight me, I'm the future! But I fight evil here and now and in the name of the future name I shall punish you!"

The monster looked around at her as though just noticing her. "Oh I hate being little", she said, looking up at the creature, "I can fight you! _Pink Sugar Hearts Attack_!"

She held her wand out and little punk hearts flew out of it, "It worked!" she cried, "Take that!"

The monster bellowed as the hearts hit it, "Yeah!" she said, "That's it, that's it—Ah!"  
She ducked as the monster swung one of it's blades at her. "Okay, no more miss mice girl, Pink Sugar—hey!"  
She yelled in surprise as the wand was thrown out of her hands, "Who did that?" she looked around. But the street was empty. "What happened?" she asked, "Uh oh…"  
She turned and started to run as the monster made to attack her, "Ow!" she cried as she tripped, "Don't hurt me", she whimpered, looking around. The monster had one of it's blade lifted above her, and it was swinging down. She closed her eyes and…

_Twing!_

She looked up in surprise. A pink shield had formed above her. "Who did that?" she looked around, "Hey!"  
The guardians and the Sailor Scouts were standing a few feet away. "You okay Mini Moon?" Serena called.

"I'm good", she called, standing up as the shield faded away, "Now where'd my wand go?"

"Who are you?" Irma asked, looking at her weirdly.

"Sailor Mini Moon of course", she grinned.

"Who?"  
"Oh the hurts", she frowned, jumping out of the way of another attack.

"Stand aside Mini Moon", Serena called, grabbing her tiara, "Moon Tiara Magic!"  
The tiara flew at the monster and hit it. "All right!" Rini grabbed her wand, "My turn. Pink Sugar Hearts Attack!"

The hearts slammed into the creature, and she couldn't help but grin. "You know, that looks like fun", she heard Irma say, "Water!"  
A stream of water flew at the creature, and slammed it backwards. Irma laughed, "Who's next?"  
"Look!" Rini yelled. The monster was disappearing, fading away. "What in the world…"

* * *

"That was weird", Serena said thoughtfully, "What do you think happened?"

They were back at the temple. Rini had said goodbye to Hiroko with promises that they would hang out again really soon, and then had gone back with her friends. "I've never seen monsters just disappear like that", Amy said, "It's strange"  
"Wanna know what else is strange?" Irma asked, "Rini being a Sailor Scout, that's strange"

"What's so weird about that?" she asked defensively, "I can be a Sailor Scout, what's wrong, am I too little—?"  
"I didn't mean—"

"Or is it because I'm younger than everyone else?"  
"I didn't say—"  
"Ignore her Rini", Cornelia laughed, "Her mouth isn't connected to her brain"  
"Focus", Will said, "Come on, we have a new enemy here and no clue what we're doing"  
"What else is new?"

"Hey!" the girls looked around and Rini grinned.

"Hiroko!" she jumped off the stairs and ran over to her new friend, "What are you doing here?"  
"My family and I come here all the time", she said, "What are you doing here?"  
"My friend Rei's grandfather owns the place, I come here all the time", she grabbed Hiroko's hand and dragged her over to her friends, "Hiroko, that's my cousin Serena, Mina, Amy, and that's Rei, and over there are our friends from America, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin. Everyone, this is Hiroko"  
"Hello", Hiroko bowed, "Nice to meet you"  
"Hey Hiroko", Rei smiled, "Where's your dad?"  
"Oh, I came alone today", she said, "It's so quiet here and my baby cousins are visiting so I needed some peace"  
"You came to the right place then, if Serena leaves"  
"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"  
"Just what it sounds like"  
Rini rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna hang with Hiroko, see you guys later!"

"What happened to the meeting?" Serena asked as she watched Rini and Hiroko leave.

"Forget it", Lita shrugged, "We're not getting anywhere anyway, lets just break it up for today, hopefully we'll have time to meet before another monster attack"  
"Good idea"  
"Yeah"

* * *

Okay, I know not much happened, but I'm just jumping back in, so be patient, okay? The next update will be better, promise. Oh, and Hiroko isn't pointless, she's important to the story (but this isn't another Hotaru thing, really, just trust me, Hiroko serves a purpose) 


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, yeah, it's been forever since I updated. Sorry, even though it's summer I've been really busy, please don't hold it against me. Anyways, enough talk, on with the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 8** – A Night on the Town

"So Rini, you like Hiroko then?"  
"Of course!" Rini piped, "She's really nice, but she's kind of shy too"  
"She seems like a nice girl", Will put in, "Or from what I've seen of her anyway, she is"  
"She's is, trust me", Rini said, "But…"  
"What?"  
"Well, there's something about her…" she paused, "I dunno, there's something about her that just doesn't seem…right"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I'm not sure, it's like…" she tried to figure it out, "Like walking into your room where everything is where it's supposed to be, but something still doesn't seem right"  
"I know that feeling", Will said, "It's a weird feeling"  
"That's how I feel about Hiroko", Rini said, "But she's still really nice, and she hasn't done anything to make me think there's something wrong with her, but still…"  
"She seems nice though", Serena broke in, "If you ask me, you're being paranoid"  
"Maybe I am", she shrugged, "What do you think Luna?"  
"For once I actually agree with Serena", Luna said, "Maybe you're just thinking a little too hard"  
"Yeah, you're right", Rini nodded and jumped up, "Hey, I have an idea, lets go downtown and get something to eat"  
Serena's parents were out for the night. "Sounds great!" Serena jumped up, "I'm so there, lets go!"  
"Will?" Rini asked.

"Sure, I'm in", Will agreed, standing up. The girls made their way out of the house together and were half way down the street before…

"Uh oh", Serena said, coming to a stop.

"What?" Rini and Will asked at the same time.

"I just remembered", Serena said, smiling, "I'm broke"  
"Serena!"

"I have some money", Will cut in, "I'll pay"  
"I'll pay you back", Serena promised as they continued down the street.

"What in the world did you spend all your money on Serena?" Rini asked, annoyed.

"The arcade", Luna said before Serena could answer.

"Not _just_ the arcade", Serena cut in, defending herself.

"Oh yeah, she also went shopping"  
"Thank you"

"Serena…"  
"Do you have any money left Rini?"  
"Er…"  
"That's what I thought"

Will laughed pleasantly. It was nice to be out of the Guardian scene for a bit and just being normal.

"Hiroko!" Rini's yelling pulled her out of her thoughts, "Hiroko, hi!"  
"Rini!" Hiroko ran over to them, "Hi! What are you doing here?"  
"We came down to get something to eat", Rini said with a shrug, "Serena can't cook for her life, so we figured it'd be safer to go out"

"Brat", Serena snapped while Hiroko laughed.

Hiroko!" the girls looked around; a man was making his way towards them.

"Hi Dad!" she rushed over to him, "Rini, this is my father, Kinjo Hishiama. Dad, this is my new friend, Rini, her cousin Serena, and their friend Will"  
"Hello", Rini, Serena, and Will said at the same time.

"It's nice to meet you", Mr. Hishiama said, "Hiroko hasn't been able to stop talking about you since she met you, Rini"

"Really?"  
"Don't sound surprised Rini", Serena said, "You haven't stopped talking her either"  
"Serena!"

"Hey, would you like to come eat with us?" Serena asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I have some stuff to take care of at home", Hiroko's dad said, "But if Hiroko wants to go that's fine"  
"Yay!" Rini cheered, "Please say you'll come Hiroko!"  
"Sure, why not?" she said with a shrug, "Thanks Dad"  
"No problem, just make sure you're home for curfew", he said, giving her a kiss on the head, "Have fun"  
"So where do you girls want to go?" Will asked.

"Pizza!" Rini said.

"No way, lets go to that new place downtown", Serena cut in.

"Pizza!"  
"No way!"  
"What about you Hiroko?" Will asked the quiet girl.

"Oh, whatever you guys decide is fine", she said quickly.

"No, you have to be part of this decision too", Will pushed.

"Well…" she thought about it, "Pizza does sound good…"  
"Yay!" Rini said, "In your face Serena!"  
"Wait, what about you Will?" Serena was determined not to lose.

"Actually, I could go for pizza myself…"  
"YES!" Rini yelled, "Pizza wins all! Lets go!"  
Serena sulked the whole way to the pizza place. "Come on, cheer up Serena!" Will said, trying to talk the blonde girl out of her funk.

"She always gets what she wants", it didn't take a genius to figure out she was talking about Rini. "She's such a brat", she added, annoyed, "A spoiled cry baby brat"  
"But you love her anyway", Will said, winking.

"She's still a brat"  
"You know", Will changed the subject, looking around to face Hiroko and Rini, who were walking in front of them, "I'm beginning to see what Rini meant by there was something off about Hiroko"  
"What do you mean?"  
"She seems really nice and all", she said slowly, "But there's something…weird about her, different, not quite all there"  
"Yeah", Serena agreed, "Her dad gave me the creeps"  
"Yeah?"  
"Uh huh", she nodded, "He seemed really nice, and it was obvious he cared about his daughter, but still, there was something…missing"  
"You mean like feeling?" Will asked, "Love, caring, compassion, the kind of thing you would expect from a parent?"  
"You noticed it too then?"  
"Yeah", Will nodded, "Plus, you know, he looked sort of familiar…"

In the end, they decided not to voice their suspicions to Rini, who was thrilled about having a new friend. They spent a joyful night out on the town, and Serena and Rini each ended up about twenty dollars apiece in Will's debt.

"We'll mail you your money", Serena promised, "Leave us your address before you leave"

They got Hiroko home right before her curfew. "See you later Rini!" she yelled over her shoulder, waving,

"Bye!" Rini yelled back. Serena and Will exchanged smiles. They still had small suspicions, but it was nice to see Rini so happy.

_Wham!_

The girls whirled around. Moment short-lived. "I don't suppose you brought your communicator?" Rini asked Serena.

"Nope"

"Aw man…"  
"Should we go check it out?" Will asked.

"I don't wanna", Serena muttered, "Lets go girls. Something tells me we'd better be ready for trouble"

* * *

"What's that?" Rini asked, shocked. They were facing another one of those shadow creature things they had fought before.

"Good thing we transformed", Will muttered, looking down at her guardian body. They hadn't had time to call the others, so they were on their own.

"Am I the only one that thinks that thing is a lot bigger than the last one we fought?" Serena asked.

"No, it's definitely bigger", Rini grabbed her wand, "_Pink Sugar Heart Attack_!"

She pointed it at the creature, but nothing happened. "What?" she squeaked, "Come on, work, _Pink Sugar Heart Attack!_"

Again, nothing happened. "Stand aside Mini Moon", Serena said, grabbing her tiara, "_Moon Tiara Magic_!"

The tiara flew at the creature and sliced it's arm. "Come on, work", Rini said, hitting her wand on her hand, "Stupid wand, _Pink Sugar Heart Attack_!"

This time little pink hearts flew out of it. She pulled back and they flew by her face. "All right!" she cheered, pointing it at the monster.

"Nice", Will said, "I don't think that stopped it though, duck!"

The two girls dove and hit the ground right as a car flew at them. "That thing is strong for nothing but a shadow", Rini commented, pulling herself up.

"Shadow?" Will repeated, "That's it!"  
"What is?"

She didn't answer. Instead she jumped up, held her hands up, and focused on the creature. Pink energy shot out of her hands and slammed into the creature. "Bulls-eye", Rini said, watching, "But what good is it?"  
"If that thing is a shadow", Will said, not taking her gaze off the creature, which was writhing in agony, "Then maybe we should show it the light"

"Huh?" she was more confused then ever. Will's plan became apparent a second later though, when the creature suddenly exploded. "Cool!" Rini yelled.

"I get it", Serena said, "It couldn't handle the light"

"Yeah", Will said, changing back into her regular form. Rini and Serena quickly followed suit. "What was that thing though?"

* * *

Okay, there was a big clue in this chapter about Hiroko. Hope you paid close attention to this and other chapters, because it might help you figure something out… 


End file.
